Disney could be making a new 'Pirates of the Caribbean' without Johnny Depp.
Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow
Stuart Beattie - who served as a screenwriter on the first film 'Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl' - appeared to suggest that the 56-year-old star's time as Captain Jack Sparrow was over as the studio looks ahead to the sixth instalment in the swashbuckling franchise.
He told 'DailyMailTV': "I think he's had a great run. Obviously he's made that character his own and it's become the thing that he's most famous for now.
"It's been great for him and it's been great for us... There's that saying, 'Don't frown because it's over, smile because it happened'.
The fact that they're rebooting something that you did means that you did something that was worth rebooting. It's an honour."
Disney have hired 'Chernobyl' creator Craig Mazin to work alongside franchise veteran Ted Elliott to craft a story for the reboot.
'Deadpool' writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick had previously been aboard the project but they left the development earlier this year.
The most recent movie - 'Dead Men Tell No Tales' - was released in 2015 with director Joachim Ronning previously stating that it was "only the beginning of the final adventure".
Beattie also opened up about Depp's future in the saga last year - which is yet to be confirmed either way - and suggested the actor will always be closely associated with the 'Pirates' franchise.
He said: "I think Jack Sparrow will be his legacy. It's the only character he's played five times, it's the character he dresses up in to visit children in hospitals, it's what he'll be remembered for.
"Before Jack Sparrow came along, [Depp] was considered this kind of quirky, independent actor that made these really cool little Tim Burton films, but he was by no means a movie star and a lot of people thought we were crazy for casting him at the time.
"Because he wasn't a proven commodity; you know, a big movie star. And we were making a big movie and we were putting this quirky, independent actor in the middle of it and people thought we were crazy. The fact that it worked is a miracle."
Tagged in Amber Heard David Yates Johnny Depp