In its relentless quest to leave no IP unplundered, it might come as a surprise that the entertainment industry has let Pirates of the Caribbean rest for this long. Based on comments from star Jack Davenport about a possible Commodore Norrington spin-off, fans probably shouldn’t expect the series to return from the dead anytime soon.
Davenport’s most recent high profile work was starring in The Accused, and it was during one interview regarding this series that he was asked tangentially about his willingness to star in a hypothetical Commodore Norrington spin-off series set within the Pirates of the Caribbean universe.
Managing to stand out as a secondary character in a franchise absolutely overflowing with notable secondary characters is no small feat, but Davenport isn’t particularly hopeful about Norrington warranting his own show.
Replying to the question, he said, “A snowball in hell has a stronger chance of survival than the Commodore Norrington reboot, but sure,” Davenport then addressed producer Jerry Bruckheimer, adding, “Jerry, if you’re watching, which I know you’re not, I’m there. Yes, you can put me back in brigade, I’ll do it.”
Norrington was introduced in the first movie, Curse of the Black Pearl, as the fiancée of Keira Knightley’s Elizabeth Swann, and progressed throughout the subsequent films from secondary antagonist to anti-hero until his untimely death in At World’s End.
Of course, fans of the franchise will know that seldom has a minor hiccup like death stopped any character in the Pirates universe, where it seems to be a minor inconvenience at best with dozens of methods and tricks to reverse it. Even if a hypothetical Commodore Norrington spin-off would skip a resurrection, it could act as a prequel.
While Davenport clearly doesn’t have high hopes for such a show to leave harbor, it might actually make a fair bit of sense for he rights holders. While most films in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise had less than stellar critical reception, they all ended up being highly successful and enjoy a large fanbase.
However, recent highly publicized controversies around Johnny Depp, who played the series’ overwhelmingly most popular character in Captain Jack Sparrow, have made these seas hard to sail from a publicity perspective. Reviving the IP whilst focusing on other popular characters may be the only way forward.
While producers officially claim that the Margot Robbie-led Pirates of the Caribbean spin-off as well as a sixth main entry are still happening, the franchise has been dead in the water since 2017’s Dead Men Tell No Tales. Creating a spin-off set in the same universe would track with Disney’s recent content strategy on their streaming service.
Some viewers may argue that an entire spin-off focusing on Commodore Norrington would be superfluous, especially in a world where Hollywood seems hell-bent on turning everything into a franchise and cinematic universe, overflowing with pointless spin-offs. At the same time, both the series and the character have fans who’d welcome new content.
While there’s nothing concrete on the horizon for Pirates fans yet, at least they know the actor would be on board with such a project.
