AceShowbiz - A "weird" "Pirates of the Caribbean" reboot from "The Last of Us" showrunner is apparently in the works at Disney. Craig Mazin, who co-created the HBO post-apocalyptic drama series, has revealed that his pitch for a new installment of the swashbuckler fantasy film franchise has been greenlit by the studio despite his initial skepticism.

In a recent interview with the LA Times, Mazin revealed that he has been developing the "Pirates of the Caribbean" reboot with Ted Elliot, who co-wrote the first film of the franchise and two subsequent films. He said that they had begun writing the script prior to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, but now the development on the project has been put on hold due to the ongoing strikes.

"We pitched it and thought there's no way they're buying it, it's too weird. And they did!" Elliot said in the interview. He went on gushing, "[Elliot] wrote a fantastic script and the strike happened and everyone's waiting around."

Despite no certainty on the future of the reboot project, this is a positive update from the "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise. In late 2022, Disney shelved a female-led spin-off that would have starred Margot Robbie.

In an interview for her Vanity Fair cover story, the "Barbie" star revealed, "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."

Meanwhile, Depp has been gaining support for his return to the franchise. Recently, his co-star Vince Lozano told MovieWeb, "I think he deserves another shot as Jack, but I don't think it's going to happen, I'm hearing a lot of stories out there. The audience is there though. I do a lot of pirate conventions and there's such a big subculture of people that dress up like pirates, and they love Johnny."

Depp was axed as Jack Sparrow by Disney in 2018 in an attempt to bring a "new energy" to the franchise but Disney Studios Motion Picture president Sean Bailey did not rule out a potential return for the 60-year-old actor. In an interview with The New York Times newspaper, Bailey said, "We think we have a really good, exciting story that honors the films that have come before but also has something new to say."