Pirates producer reveals Johnny Depp's future as Captain Jack Sparrow

The future of Johnny Depp's character Jack Sparrow has been revealed.

Pirates of the Caribbean producer Jerry Bruckheimer told the Sunday Times last week Depp will not be returning as the rogue pirate anytime soon.

"Not at this point," he said. "The future is yet to be decided."

However according to Depp's testimony during his defamation trial with his ex-wife Amber Heard, now under way in the US, he wouldn't return to the franchise even if they offered him a large sum. During cross-examination Heard's lawyer asked the actor, "The fact is, Mr Depp, if Disney came to you with $300 million and a million alpacas, nothing on this earth would get you to go back and work with Disney on a Pirates of the Caribbean film? Correct?"

To which Depp replied, "That is true, Mr Rottenborn".

Bruckheimer later revealed in his interview the franchise is considering actress Margot Robbie as the lead in a spinoff of the popular film series and confirmed two scripts were in the works.

"Yes. We're talking to Margot Robbie. We are developing two Pirates scripts — one with her, one without."

Johnny Depp is suing Amber Heard in an explosive defamation trial. Photo / AP

The producer's comments will upset many fans who have taken to social media to push for the star's return to the big screen as the lovable pirate.

A petition on Change.org titled "Justice for Johnny Depp" has been created with the goal of one million signatures - as of today it has over 689,000 signatures - a counter-petition to remove Heard from her role in Aquaman 2 has more than 3.7 million signatures.

The organiser of Depp's petition, Kimberly Giles, writes that "Amber Heard ruined Johnny Depp's life as well as career".

"Johnny Depp deserves his life back the way it was before Amber Heard came along, because no actor or actor could ever say this man is not an amazing actor," the petition reads. "If you were falsely accused of something you did not do, then there's proof you didn't do it and you still were treated like a bad person, wouldn't you want Justice??"

Depp's talent manager Jack Whigham testified earlier in the defamation trial that Depp lost out on US$22.5m ($35m) after losing his role in the sixth Pirate film.

Whigham said Heard's 2018 op-ed for the Washington Post, had a "catastrophic" effect on the actor's career but Heard's legal team later presented evidence of the star's "troubling behaviour" and "heavy drinking" that could have also resulted in his firing.