Margot Robbie's Pirates Of The Caribbean Movie Is No Longer Happening

Margot Robbie has been flying high as one of the most in-demand actors in recent years, gathering starring roles in "The Suicide Squad," "Amsterdam," "Babylon," and even Greta Gerwig's upcoming "Barbie" movie (which is a sentence that still feels surreal to type). But that doesn't mean it's all smooth sailing, however.

Despite rumors of Robbie being attached to a "Pirates of the Caribbean" revitalization for the last few years now (which /Film originally reported on here), today brings us the much-needed reminder that sometimes it's not worth getting excited about an upcoming production until we're actually sitting down in the theaters with the lights about to come down. In an extensive profile with Vanity Fair, the movie star dropped the bombshell that the "Pirates" film will no longer be moving forward. As Robbie put it:

"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."

The "they" in question is presumably Disney, which at one point seemed gung-ho about the prospect of breathing new life into the "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise by bringing in Robbie and screenwriter Christina Hodson ("Bumblebee," "Birds of Prey," "Batgirl"). Whether this production was meant to be a sequel to the original Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, and Johnny Depp-starring movies or a total reboot is now a moot point, as both parties have seemingly moved on. Unfortunately, it's not a pirate's life for Robbie.

It's back to the drawing board for Disney and their attempts to get the next phase of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise out of dry dock. After suffering a series of diminishing returns once director Gore Verbinski wrapped up the original trilogy in 2006, the "Pirates" movies have floundered in the years since with a pair of Depp-starring sequels (which proved that comic relief supporting characters, no matter how beloved, can't necessarily carry their own movies by default) that all but put the profitable series in the ground for good.

Attempts to revive "Pirates" with Robbie as the lead at least made a certain amount of sense, with Disney capitalizing on her unquestionable star power to draw butts in seats once again. At the time, super-producer Jerry Bruckheimer was quoted as saying, "We're talking to Margot Robbie. We are developing two 'Pirates' scripts — one with her, one without." It's unclear whether this news means that the studio has opted for the one without her, although Bruckheimer offered another update as recently as a few months ago when he revealed that original screenwriter Ted Elliott ("Curse of the Black Pearl") had been enlisted to work on the new screenplay.

With IP reigning supreme these days, Disney clearly isn't giving up on "Pirates of the Caribbean" without a fight. Although it's hard to believe that they'd simply move on from Robbie despite her obvious interest, perhaps there's a Jack Sparrow-like backup plan in the works that'll end up even better ... or not. Keep an eye on /Film for more updates as they come in.