Pirates of the Caribbean: The Last of Us showrunner Craig Mazin is developing a reboot

The House of Mouse has been scrambling for new possibilities for a continuation of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. For a property that isn’t necessarily tied to a character through its source material, the original film dropped an iconic film performance from Johnny Depp as he cemented a new pop culture figure in Captain Jack Sparrow. Jack Sparrow continued with the series after the trilogy arc ended, but recent public controversies makes it murky on whether Depp will be returning or not.

Disney has been circling around with producer Jerry Bruckheimer on several reboots, either in a different continuity or taking place in the same universe. CBR.com reports that the acclaimed showrunner of HBO shows Chernobyl and The Last of Us, Craig Mazin, has been developing a new Pirates of the Caribbean for Disney. While talking about the The Last of Us and the WGA strikes, Mazin tells the LA Times he agreed to work on a Pirates reboot if he could work on it with one of the original film’s writers, Ted Elliot. “We pitched it and thought there’s no way they’re buying it, it’s too weird. And they did! And then he [Ted Elliot] wrote a fantastic script and the strike happened and everyone’s waiting around.”

This new development joins the numerous attempts at continuing the high-sea swashbuckling series. Bruckheimer has spoken about ideas of a reboot that would star Barbie herself, Margot Robbie, which she feels might be dead in the water, but Bruckheimer insists it is still in consideration. He told The Hollywood Reporter late last year, “It’s alive for me. It’s alive for Disney. I’m sure she was disappointed it didn’t go first — or maybe not because she’s very busy, so it might be a blessing to push this a bit. We believe we’ll get it made. It’s a very strong story.” He also adds that there is a separate script that focuses on a younger cast of characters. “We have a very good script. We developed two of them — the one with Margot Robbie and one with a younger cast. The Margot Robbie one needs a little more work. The younger cast one is close. Hopefully we’ll get both of them.”