The fourth “Pirates of the Caribbean” film is happening, with or without stars Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley. With neither of these two yet on board, and director Gore Verbinski officially out of the picture, producer Jerry Bruckheimer tells HitFlix that the upcoming installment can certainly count on Johnny Depp, on whose character the entire story will be centered.

Speculation of the fourth film has been making the rounds for many months, but it’s just now that Bruckheimer is speaking out on it, revealing details on what’s next for the highly successfully franchise. From what the renowned producer is saying, it might very well just happen that “Pirates 4” will not see Knightley and Bloom back, but at least fans will be pleased to know that Captain Jack Sparrow will be taking center stage.

“I think for Disney it will mostly be ‘Pirates’ obviously. That’s a great franchise for them and for us too. Beloved, with a great character and Johnny’s really excited about coming back to Captain Jack. Disney’s priority is to get [a fourth] ‘Pirates’ made.” Bruckheimer tells HitFlix about Disney’s plans. At the same time, he reveals that another project Depp was supposed to be doing for Disney, “Lone Ranger,” has been pushed back so that all efforts can go into making the fourth installment of the “Pirates.”

However, this is not all that Bruckheimer has to say about the fourth film. In the same interview, the famed producer also promises fans that this installment will be more Captain Jack-centered, while also revealing that he has already seen a couple of pages from the script and couldn’t be more happy with how things are turning out. As expected, this was about all the details that he would disclose for the media but, since “Pirates 4” is said to be hitting theaters as early as 2012, more details should emerge soon.

As we were also telling you a short while back, Gore Verbinski opted out of the “Pirates” franchise, saying he wanted to do something else next. When asked about it, Bruckheimer said the director would always be welcome back since he started and made the franchise into what it is but, as of now, he and Disney have no director attached. Similarly, Keira Knightley also said that she would not return to the franchise – a replacement for her, if that be the case, has not yet been announced.