Orlando Bloom Out of Fourth ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ Film

Not long ago, Keira Knightley was saying that, should the chance be offered to her, she would not do a fourth “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie, because, no matter how wonderful an experience, she was trying to move past that stage and towards a new project. Co-star Johnny Depp was the only one believed to have already signed a contract with Disney, which meant Orlando Bloom might also walk out on the franchise – and this is precisely what he’s doing, News of the World says.

Granted, the British publication is not the most reliable source when it comes to reporting facts, but, on the premise that there’s never smoke without a fire, fans should know that speculation is building up that the fourth film in the franchise will be happening without Bloom. If this checks out, and both Bloom and Knightley are out of the picture, this means that what Producer Jerry Bruckheimer was saying a few weeks back, about how Johnny Depp’s character would take center stage, is an accurate interpretation of Disney’s plans with “Pirates.”

“Orlando loved the films but thinks it’s time to bow out because they tied up nicely for his character Will Turner. The producers are OK with that because they want to concentrate on the new adventures of Johnny Depp’s Captain Jack Sparrow.” an unnamed, but presumably very well informed source says for News of the World. Apparently, Bloom is thinking of making his relationship to supermodel Miranda Kerr official and, since doing a fourth film would keep him mostly away from her, he has decided to not take part in the franchise at all.

As we were also telling you a while back, because of the way the last film ended and on account of the fact that Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom were having doubts as to whether they should do a fourth film as well at the time, Disney is now considering turning the franchise to center on Captain Sparrow. Johnny Depp’s wacky character was, as fans must surely know, an instant hit to audiences worldwide, often managing to steal the thunder from Knightley and Bloom’s onscreen romance.

“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 was saying at the time. In the same interview, he also revealed a draft of the script was also completed – and it looked fabulous and very promising – which meant fans could expect the fourth film to drop as early as 2012.