Margot Robbie set to star in female-fronted ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ movie

It’s going to be a pirate’s life for Margot Robbie, who is slated to star in a new “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie.

Robbie, a two-time Academy Award nominee, recently starred as DC Comics character Harley Quinn in the movie “Birds of Prey” and will team up with “Birds of Prey” writer Christina Hodson for this new feature film. Jerry Bruckheimer, long attached to the “Pirates” franchise, will produce the new film.

The surprise announcement was published as an exclusive at The Hollywood Reporter, and the creators of the new “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie are keeping a tight lid on any plot details.

However, the announcement of the newest film in the “Pirates” pantheon did make one thing clear: it will not be directly connected to the original series of films that starred actor Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow. Depp starred in five “Pirates of the Caribbean” films backed by Disney starting back in 2003 with “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl” and, most recently 2017’s “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.”

But according to The Hollywood Reporter, the new “Pirates” isn’t a sequel or spinoff of the series that had Jack Sparrow (and therefore Johnny Depp) at the helm. Instead, THR wrote, it’s “a wholly original story with new characters.”

Reaction on social media is about as up and down as the seas in a hurricane. First, you have the die-hard Depp fans who don’t want to see anything “Pirates”-related without Captain Jack. For most, it’s not that they don’t like Robbie. As Twitter user Strawberry Fields said, they just want their beloved Captain Jack back on the screen.

In another camp are fans such as @BrandonDavisBD, who originally thought there couldn’t even be a “Pirates” movie without Depp but may have been swayed by Robbie’s casting.

Time will tell about the success of the next swashbuckling adventure, but we can’t wait for more details!