Although Johnny Depp hasn’t played Captain Jack Sparrow on the big screen in five years, he suited up as his iconic Pirates of the Caribbean character for a Make-A-Wish video sent to a young fan.
The YouTube channel Kraken The Box is operated by an 11-year-old boy named Kori, who is in palliative care after undergoing multiple heart surgeries. A source told People that Kori is a “massive” fan of Jack Sparrow and would watch the Pirates of the Caribbean movies “during his multiple heart surgeries and subsequent recovery periods.”
Decked out in full Jack Sparrow garb, Johnny Depp brought the eccentric pirate to life once again. “So, Capt. Kori, terribly sorry I missed out on this. Meant to say it, forgot to say it, didn’t say it, gonna say it now. Saying it, I’ll say it,” Depp said. “I hear tell of something they speak about in the ages of now called the YouTube channel, which I don’t understand, but why not? I understand that you’re quite the YouTube Channel man… I shall be glad to follow your YouTube channel, and I shall tell all my friends to follow your Youtube channel.” Depp finished the video by saying, “I wish you the best of luck. I am your #1 fan, Captain Kori.” Kori’s YouTube channel has grown very quickly since its creation on November 28th, reaching 180,000 subscribers. A further video shows that Kori actually had a one-on-one video call with Johnny Depp (still in character).
As for the next Pirates of the Caribbean movie, Johnny Depp has said that he likely won’t return. There was a spinoff in development that would have starred Margot Robbie, but the actress told Vanity Fair last month that the project was no longer moving forward. “We had an idea and we were developing it for a while, ages ago, to have more of a female-led — not totally female-led, but just a different kind of story — which we thought would’ve been really cool. But I guess they don’t want to do it,“Robbie said. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer later said that the spinoff was still afloat, along with another Pirates of the Caribbean project. “I think that that script will come forward at a certain point,” Bruckheimer said. “We developed two different stories for ‘Pirates’ and the other one’s going forward first, so that’s what we’re working on, to try to get that one made.“
This Make-A-Wish video for Captain Kori isn’t the first time that Johnny Depp has reprised Jack Sparrow for a good cause, as the actor has a history of visiting children’s hospitals in costume.