‘Pirates of the Caribbean 5′ Consorting With Witches? Early Plot Details Revealed

With the release of 'Pirates of the Caribbean 5,' titled 'Dead Men Tell No Tales,' moved to summer 2016, little is known about what we can expect from the fifth installment of the popular movie franchise. Jeff Nathanson is busy rewriting his initial script treatment for directors Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg, but now it seems the first details of the story have spilled out.

With cursed pirate gold, Davy Jones, Calypso and the Fountain of Youth already covered, 'Pirates of the Caribbean 5' will next tackle .... witches and one vengeful ghost, according to Bleeding Cool, who got their hands on an early version of the script.

Jack Sparrow will have a new sparring partner in the form of a new female lead, a scientific mind accused of witchcraft. Witches, in general, are said to play a large part in the film with "somewhat less of a hoodoo flavoring." As for the title, 'Dead Men Tell No Tales,' it will be derived from another lead character, this time a ghost, "a former member of the British military now sided with Barbossa on a revenge mission." And lastly, the film kicks off with "a rather awkward wedding" and will involve the myth of the Bermuda Triangle.

Producer Jerry Bruckheimer ('The Lone Ranger') said 'Pirates of the Caribbean 5' was delayed due to script issues. "We have an outline everyone loves, but the script is not done." Furthermore, according to THR sources, the script "was too expensive but it was also really complicated and hard to follow." It'll be interesting to see which of these plot points, if any, will be cut in the process.

In an interview with Rønning and Sandberg, the directors told ScreenCrush they were inspired by the first 'Pirates' movie when conceptualizing the fifth film. Said Ronning:

I think we’re going a little bit back to that, the feeling of that at least. It’s a very funny, emotional script, and a great one. So it reminds us of the kind of adventure movies we grew up with – Indiana Jones movies, or movies that inspired us to become filmmakers, really. So it’s almost for us like coming full circle.

Continued Sandberg, "We believe movies should be an emotional experience. Even if it’s a comedy, at least the comedies we respond to have that as well, and like we said, we found that in this 'Pirates' movie as well. So we’re really looking forward to telling that story now."

Johnny Depp (and now, apparently, Geoffrey Rush's Barbossa) is set to return as Captain Jack Sparrow, and the film, now to be released in summer 2016, is planned to begin production in the middle of next year.

*Reporting by Todd Gilchrist.