The upcoming sixth Pirates Of The Caribbean movie has such an oddball script, one of its writers is amazed Disney accepted it.

Craig Mazin, who wrote the acclaimed HBO miniseries Chernobyl and co-created the network’s The Last Of Us, made the candid confession to Variety.

He has now written the next Pirates Of The Caribbean film with Ted Elliott, who himself co-wrote the first four movies in the series with Terry Rossio.

‘We pitched it and thought there’s no way they’re buying it, it’s too weird. And they did!’ Craig revealed in his new interview.

‘And then he wrote a fantastic script and the strike happened and everyone’s waiting around,’ the showrunner added.

Throwback: The upcoming sixth Pirates Of The Caribbean movie has such an oddball script, one of its writers is amazed Disney accepted it; Johnny Depp is pictured for the fourth movie (pictured in 2003)

Who’s who: Craig Mazin, who co-created the HBO miniseries Chernobyl starring Stellan Skarsgard (left) and Jared Harris (right), made the candid confession

HBO releases the promo for the finale of ‘The Last of Us’

The previous five movies in the franchise were led by Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow, a character who became beloved by legions of fans all over the world.

Johnny’s Hollywood career, however, spent the past few years in the doldrums as a result of his explosive legal battles with his ex-wife Amber Heard.

Amber and Johnny waged a blistering war of lawsuits after their 15-month marriage disintegrated into a blizzard of back-and-forth abuse allegations.

After his victory in a defamation case against Amber last year, Johnny mounted a grand return to showbiz and received a rapturous reception this May at the Cannes Film Festival, where he premiered his film Jeanne du Barry.

Last May, just before Johnny’s court triumph, Pirates Of The Caribbean producer Jerry Bruckheimer was opaque on the prospect of Johnny’s return to the franchise.

When the Sunday Times asked if Johnny would come back, Jerry said: ‘Not at this point,’ but left the door slightly ajar, adding: ‘The future is yet to be decided.’

Back in 2020, with Johnny’s career still on ice, it emerged Disney was developing Pirates Of The Caribbean 6 alongside a spin-off movie starring Margot Robbie.

The Margot project was going to be written by Christina Hodson, who previously wrote the blonde bombshell’s supervillain caper Birds Of Prey.

New gig: Craig (pictured) has now written the next Pirates Of The Caribbean film with Ted Elliott, who himself co-wrote the first four movies in the series with Terry Rossio

Who’s who: The previous five movies in the franchise were led by Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow, pictured in the first film alongside Orlando Bloom as blacksmith Will Turner

Latest: Pirates Of The Caribbean rapidly became a global juggernaut as a movie franchise, churning out five movies in all between 2003 and 2017; pictured in Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl

The way they were: Johnny’s career, however, spent the past few years in the doldrums as a result of his legal battles with his ex-wife Amber Heard, whom he is pictured with in 2015

On ice: Back in 2020, with Johnny’s career still on ice, it emerged Disney was developing Pirates Of The Caribbean 6 alongside a spin-off movie starring Margot Robbie

Depp felt ‘betrayed’ over dumping from Pirates of the Caribbean

Last year, however, Margot gave an interview to Vanity Fair asserting that Disney had decided to pass on her Pirates Of The Caribbean movie.

‘We had an idea and we were developing it for a while, ages ago, to have more of a female-led – not totally female-led, but just a different kind of story – which we thought would’ve been really cool,’ she said. ‘But I guess they don’t want to do it.’

Jerry Bruckheimer then leapt into the fray and clarified that the spin-off was not off the table completely, but has been deferred in favor of the direct sequel.

‘I think that that script will come forward at a certain point,’ he told Collider of the spin-off. ‘We developed two different stories for Pirates and the other one’s going forward first, so that’s what we’re working on, to try to get that one made.’

Based on a children’s ride at Disneyland, the Pirates Of The Caribbean movie franchise began in 2003 with a film subtitled The Curse Of The Black Pearl.

The first three films starred Johnny alongside Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom, playing a governor’s daughter and a blacksmith who fall in love.

Pirates Of The Caribbean rapidly became a global juggernaut as a movie franchise, churning out five movies in all between 2003 and 2017.

By the time the fifth movie premiered, Johnny and Amber were already locked in the rancorous legal battle that thundered on for another half-decade.