Austin Butler Reacts to 'Pirates of the Caribbean' Casting Report

Butler claimed he did not know if Disney was considering him for a role in the 'Pirates' franchise, but he made it clear he would be very interested.

By Michael Hein

Austin Butler was surprised to hear the rumors that Disney wants him to star in an upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean film. The story broke last month in The DisInsider, but Butler had not heard about it until last week when Entertainment Tonight interviewed him about his upcoming movie The Bikeriders. He said that he was not aware of any official talks, but he was not opposed to the idea either.

"Oh really, I haven't heard about that," Butler said. "I loved Pirates of the Caribbean."

Butler is not on social media, so he is not likely to have seen The DisInsider's report kicking around on any feeds. However, if his agents had been in contact with Disney about the project, he presumably would have known about it, though that doesn't mean he'd be free to speak about it in an interview right now. He did go on to elaborate on his love for the fantasy pirate franchise a bit.

"That just reminded me of when I was a kid," he said. "In elementary school, we had to make these posters that had like your favorite music, your favorite actors. And at that time – I don't know what grade, it must have been fourth grade, third grade or something – but it was – Pirates of the Caribbean was on there."

Butler went on to speculate that joining a franchise with so much momentum behind it would be a challenge. He said: "It's a hard one to touch because they did it so well. I loved what Johnny [Depp] did with that."

The DisInsider's report also said that Butler is under consideration for a live-action adaptation of Hercules, but the actor did not talk about that on his press tour last week. Butler is out promoting The Bikeriders – a historical drama based on a non-fiction book by Danny Lyon, following a motorcycle club in the Chicago area in the early 1960s. The movie hits theaters on Friday.

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As for the Pirates franchise, the future is a lot less clear. The fifth and most recent installment in the franchise, Dead Men Tell No Tales, came out in 2017. Since then, most conversations about the series have revolved around a "reboot" or "revival," with reports that some parties behind the scenes did not want Depp involved, while others insisted he was the heart of the franchise. Back in March, Jerry Bruckheimer told our sister site ComicBook.com that a new Pirates of the Caribbean film is in the works and it will be a complete reboot with a brand new cast of characters.

All five previous Pirates of the Caribbean movies are streaming now on Disney+. The Bikeriders premieres only in theaters on Friday.

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