A Pirates of the Caribbean producer has said he would "love" to see Johnny Depp back on set.
The producer has hinted that the actor could make a return to the film franchise for the sixth movie.
Jerry Bruckheimer spoke about the franchise while on the Oscars red carpet on Sunday when he confirmed that they are working on the next installment.
He was then asked whether he thinks Johnny would make a return as the main character of Captain Jack Sparrow.
This comes after Depp's agent previously claimed that the star missed out on an £18 million ($22.5m) fee for Pirates of the Caribbean 6 after Amber Heard’s allegations of domestic abuse.
Bruckheimer told Entertainment Tonight : "We’re all working on it [the next Pirates film]. We’ll see how it comes out. We’re very excited, I think we’re gonna have a great screenplay, and we’re getting close."
When he was asked about Johnny's potential return, he said: "We’ll see. I would love it. I would love to have him in the movie – that’s all that I can tell you."
Depp claimed he was dropped from the film after Heard, his ex-wife, wrote a 2018 piece for the Washington Post, alleging she had been the victim of physical and sexual violence.
Jack Whigham gave evidence at the former couple’s libel battle, saying Depp did not appear in any studio films between December 2018 and October 2020.
He said: "It was catastrophic because it was coming from a first-person account. It was not from a journalist, not someone observing, it was from someone saying this happened to me."
Whigham said Depp had come to an £18 million ($22.5m) "verbal agreement" with Disney to reprise his role in Pirates of the Caribbean 6, but was then told in 2019 the studio had decided to go in a "different direction".
However, it is now thought that Depp has be brought back on board the project.
The Sun reported last November that the actor was scheduled to do a test shoot for the film in February after his name was seen on a call sheet.
