Something’s Missing From The New Pirates Of The Caribbean Trailer

The trailer for the fifth Pirates of the Caribbean movie is here, and something — or someone — is missing. From the looks of it, this installment has it all: a grimy-looking villain, boats, fire, organ music, a quest. But Jack Sparrow is nowhere to be found. Aside from a crude drawing, Johnny Depp's inimitable character does not appear in the trailer. Could this be Disney's effort to obscure Depp's association with the movie? If so, this would be the first sign that accusations of domestic violence levied against Depp are having any consequences for him in Hollywood. During their fraught divorce proceedings this spring, Amber Heard accused the actor of abuse. In August, the divorce was settled, the domestic violence claims dismissed, and Depp has by all accounts continued to live his scarf-covered life, seemingly unaffected by the whole thing. Career-wise, he's doing fine. Or, he was doing fine. In June, Disney CEO Bob Iger claimed he wasn't worried about Depp's seemingly damaged reputation. Iger thought the scandal would pass — "We have Jack Sparrow," he told The Hollywood Reporter. But the new trailer seems to contradict Iger's earlier assertion — if Sparrow is the franchise's guaranteed selling point, why isn't he featured in the trailer? Twitter users were pleasantly surprised by his absence.

One could argue that the two-minute trailer is just teasing Jack Sparrow's return. After all, the character is meant to be elusive. In nearly every installment of the movies thus far, someone's out scouring the oceans for Captain Jack Sparrow. But it's hard to believe that Disney would resist featuring Depp's iconic character in the first trailer. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales is trading on nostalgia, and Jack Sparrow is at the center of that nostalgia. So it seems likely someone behind the scenes wanted Depp's character in that clip — and a lot of people really, really didn't. Watch the full, Sparrow-less trailer, below.