Published September 14, 2026
Orlando Bloom has revealed that he still keeps in touch with Johnny Depp nearly two decades after their last Pirates of the Caribbean film together.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly at the 2026 Toronto International Film Festival, Bloom praised his former castmates as “really good people,” specifically Depp, who was the face of the franchise.
“I do connect with [Depp] every now and again, because he’s amazing,” the 49-year-old actor said.
Asked what’s holding up a new Pirates sequel, Bloom replied, “I ask that all the time.”
The Lord of the Rings alum continued, “But I think, it’s like, that was so fun and it was such a zeitgeist-y thing. I mean, I don’t know how they do it or when they do it, but I haven’t heard.”
The update comes as the franchise faces questions about whether its original stars could return. Bloom played Will Turner alongside Depp’s Captain Jack Sparrow and Keira Knightley’s Elizabeth Swann in the first three movies.
Though Bloom and Knightley exited the franchise after the third film, Depp kept it going until the fifth and final installment in 2017 (Bloom made a cameo appearance in that film).
Depp’s potential return has remained complicated following his highly publicised legal battles with ex-wife Amber Heard. He lost a 2020 defamation case against The Sun after the publication called him a “wife beater,” but won a separate defamation case against Heard in 2022, although the jury also ruled in favor of one of Heard’s counterclaims.