Is Austin Butler Joining Pirates Of The Caribbean Franchise? Here's What He Has To Say

Tinseltown is abuzz with rumours of actor Austin Butler allegedly joining the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise in an upcoming reboot film. The 32-year-old actor who purposely stayed away from social media, recently addressed these speculations during an interview with Entertainment Tonight. Reports suggest that these rumours began in mid-May when The DisInsider reported that Disney had been considering Butler for some time to potentially star in a new installment of the beloved Pirates of the Caribbean series, as well as for a new live-action Hercules adaptation.

While in conversation, Butler revealed that he was genuinely surprised and had no idea about these rumours. “Oh really, I haven’t heard about that,” he said and also added that he loved the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. “That just reminded me of when I was a kid. In elementary school, we had to make these posters that had like your favourite music, your favourite actors. And at that time – I don’t know what grade, it must have been fourth grade, third grade or something – but it was — Pirates of the Caribbean was on there,” he said.

However, Butler also expressed some hesitation about joining the reboot. He praised the original films and Johnny Depp’s iconic portrayal of Captain Jack Sparrow. “It’s a hard one to touch because they did it so well,” he explained to ET.

The latest Pirates of the Caribbean film, Dead Men Tell No Tales, came out in 2017. It starred Johnny Depp, Javier Bardem and Kaya Scodelario in major roles. Previous films in the franchise had also starred Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley, who were absent from the last installment.

According to ComicBook.com, in March, producer Jerry Bruckheimer confirmed that he and Disney had been working on a new Pirates film without the original cast.

Bruckheimer reportedly mentioned, “We’re gonna reboot Pirates, so that is easier to put together because you don’t have to wait for certain actors.”

Meanwhile, for Austin, his upcoming film The Bikeriders, also starring Jodie Comer, will be released in theatres on June 21.