The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise may have found its new leading man: Elvis star Austin Butler. Disney has been looking for a way to revive the hit series with new stars for years now, and last week The DisInsider reported that Butler is the latest A-lister under consideration. The report is based on the outlet’s anonymous sources, and so neither Disney nor Butler have commented publicly on it so far.
“I have heard for the last couple years that Disney has wanted to work with Butler for quite some time and while Hercules was on the table, I heard that Disney wants him [for] Pirates of the Caribbean,” DisInsider co-founder Skyler Shuler wrote. “Whether or not that happens is a completely different story.”
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It’s worth noting that Disney has worked with Butler before. Butler made his first TV appearances in 2005 on Nickelodeon shows such as Unfabulous, Drake and Josh and Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide. He went under the Disney umbrella after that run, landing a two-episode guest starring role on the Disney Channel’s Hannah Montana, playing a love interest for Miley Stewart (Miley Cyrus) named Derek Hanson.
Butler later made guest-starring appearances on the Disney Channel shows Wizards of Waverly Place and Jonas, and along the way he befriended many of the network’s biggest child stars. In 2011, he co-starred in the High School Musical spinoff movie Sharpay’s Fabulous Adventure. Around that time, Butler began his real-life relationship with fellow Disney Channel alum Vanessa Hudgens, so it’s clear that he has strong ties to the Disney ecosystem.
These days, Butler is a major movie star and he is on a roll, with acclaimed performances in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Elvis and Dune: Part Two. Critics have also raved about The Bikeriders, which premiered at film festivals last year but will make its debut in theaters next month for general audiences.
He’ll need that star power if he does tackle the Pirates franchise. The series is beloved for its fantasy setting and strange seafaring lore, but at the end of the day, it is driven by the powerful personalities of its ensemble cast. There are five films in the franchise so far, all starring Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow. Jerry Bruckheimer says Depp won’t return for the next movie; it looks like Captain Jack Sparrow will need a successor.
For now, any upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean movies are in the development stage, so fans won’t get a chance to see them for years to come. Butler will be back in theaters on June 21 in The Bikeriders. All five Pirates movies are streaming now on Disney+.
