Johnny Depp might be the face of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise as Captain Jack Sparrow. But Geoffrey Rush is definitely the soul, embodying the pirate code as Captain Hector Barbossa.
After playing the villain in The Curse Of The Black Pearl, Rush’s character returned to captain the ship and rescue Jack from the forces of Davy Jones in the closing moments of the second film.
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The character continued to ally himself with Jack and the other protagonists until the closing moments of the latest film, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.
Spoiler alert if you haven’t seen the movie!
After learning that newcomer Carina Smyth (Kaya Scodelario) is the daughter he gave up for adoption years ago, Barbossa sacrifices himself for her safety and kills the devious Captain Salazar (Javier Bardem). Barbossa has a heartfelt moment with Carina before the noble act, inspiring her to take on her father’s name.
Rush spoke to Collider about the ending scene and whether his character could make another appearance in the franchise, where curses and death do not seem to be able to keep actors from reprising their roles.
I don’t know about the end of the franchise, but it’s certainly the end for me. I think it would undermine the impact that had on me and that it had on my own daughter, who was working on the film. She was so proud of me, being up on the anchor. It was great! And I think the notion of the selfless sacrifice would be cheapened, if you just suddenly went, “Well, we’ll bring him back because we had the score cards filled out and everybody says they like Barbossa.” They could come up with something, but I said to Jerry Bruckheimer, “I think this is the end for Barbossa.” It’s expanded the world dramatically. To lose an important character is good. Or he could come back like Hamlet’s father, as a ghost, and just annoy Jack with wisdom.
Barbossa was one of the best characters of the franchise and its hard to picture another Pirates movie without his involvement. On one hand, we like his idea of appearing as a ghost, which isn’t out of the realm of possibility for this franchise.
However, such a move would definitely cheapen the sacrifice the character made for his daughter, a truly noble act committed after years of living as an irresponsible pirate.
You can see Captain Barbossa’s last voyage in theaters now.
Johnny Depp returns to the big screen as the iconic, swashbuckling anti-hero Jack Sparrow in the all-new Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. The rip-roaring adventure finds down-on-his-luck Captain Jack feeling the winds of ill-fortune blowing strongly his way when deadly ghost sailors, led by the terrifying Captain Salazer (Javier Bardem), escape from the Devil’s Triangle bent on killing every pirate at sea — notably Jack. Jack’s only hope of survival lies in the legendary Trident of Poseidon, but to find it he must forge an uneasy alliance with Carina Smyth (Kaya Scodelario), a brilliant and beautiful astronomer, and Henry (Brenton Thwaites), a headstrong young sailor in the Royal Navy. At the helm of the Dying Gull, his pitifully small and shabby ship, Captain Jack seeks not only to reverse his recent spate of ill fortune, but to save his very life from the most formidable and malicious foe he has never faced.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales is directed by Joachim Ronning and Espen Sandberg, and stars Johnny Depp, Javier Bardem, Orlando Bloom, Geoffrey Rush, Kaya Scodelario, David Wenham Brenton Thwaites Golshifteh Farahani, Stephen Graham Goran D. Kleut, Kevin McNally, Jessica Green, Martin Klebba, and Nico Cortez.
