Summary

• Pirates of the Caribbean 5's post-credits scene set up a promising Pirates of the Caribbean 6 with fan-favorite characters Elizabeth, Will, Jack, and Davy Jones.
• However, due to various factors like underwhelming box office, actors' commitments, and legal issues, this version of Pirates of the Caribbean 6 never materialized.
• The franchise's future remains uncertain, with the Pirates of the Caribbean 5 post-credits scene becoming another disappointing tease that went nowhere.

While Pirates of the Caribbean 6. It has been some time since the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise gave viewers a reason to be excited. While the original Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy was relatively well received, the fourth and fifth installments in the series dropped their ing cast and focused entirely on Johnny Depp's Jack Sparrow to their detriment. This resulted in worse reviews from the fourth movie and worse box office receipts from the fifth.

Since the release of 2017's Dead Men Tell No Tales, the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise has been inactive. While producer Jerry Bruckheimer's Pirates of the Caribbean 6 updates are primarily positive, the franchise's direction remains unclear, and few concrete details are known about the next movie in the series. However, for all the faults found in Dead Men Tell No Tales, the fifth Pirates of the Caribbean set up the best possible sequel to end the series. The sequel's post-credits scene set up a version of Pirates of the Caribbean 6 starring Elizabeth, Will, Jack, and the returning villain Davy Jones.

Pirates Of The Caribbean 5 Secretly Brought Back Davy Jones

A Fan-Favorite Antagonist Has Been Teased To Return

The post-credits scene of the most recent Pirates of the Caribbean movie brings back a fan-favorite antagonist and key character from the original Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy — Bill Nighy's Davy Jones. In the post-credits scene of Dead Men Tell No Tales, Will and Elizabeth are asleep in bed when an unseen assailant enters their bedroom. The tentacles of their attacker's shadow prove that it is Bill Nighy's Davy Jones, back for revenge.

However, when Will wakes up, no one is in the room. Just as viewers are reassured that this was all a bad dream, the camera drops to the floor of their bedroom to reveal barnacles and water. Thus, the Pirates of the Caribbean sequel implies that Davy Jones really did return somehow and would be out for vengeance against Will and Elizabeth in Pirates of the Caribbean 6.

How Davy Jones Could Impact Pirates Of The Caribbean 6

There's No Shortage Of Ways The Tentacled Antagonist Could Be Resurrected

Davy Jones' return from the dead is not a major surprise in and of itself. The Pirates of the Caribbean are infamously tricky around death, with both Captain Barbossa and Jack Sparrow returning from the afterlife in earlier movies. However, the return of Davy Jones does have a major impact on the story of the series. Not seen since the plot hole-ravaged At World's End, Davy Jones was one of the most memorable villains in the entire franchise.

His revenge on Will and Elizabeth would mean the duo would be back in more substantial roles, reversing the critically lambasted Jack Sparrow focus of the later sequels. If Pirates of the Caribbean 6 brought back Will and Elizabeth, the sequel could have pushed Jack back into the background instead of leaning into Depp's comedic hamminess at every opportunity.

This could have given Jack a chance to win back viewers who were bored by the character's antics while also benefiting from the most compelling villain in the series. Although it didn't really add up upon a re-watch, the love story between Calypso and Davy Jones was a legitimately tragic character detail that made the character deeper and more poignant than the rest of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise's rogue's gallery of antagonists.

Why This Version of Pirates Of The Caribbean 6 Never Happened

With a villain worth following, the return of Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom, and a promise to bring back the tone of the original trilogy, it seems like the version of Pirates of the Caribbean 6 promised by the post-credits scene in Dead Men Tell No Tales couldn't fail. However, this was not the case.

The underwhelming Pirates of the Caribbean 5 box office, Knightley and Bloom's other commitments, Depp's legal troubles, and the original trilogy director Gore Verbinski's disinterest in the series all conspired to kill this project. While various versions of Pirates of the Caribbean 6 have since been floated (and some, like Margot Robbie's female-led reboot, soon sank), the direct sequel proposed by Dead Men Tell No Tales was never seriously discussed after the comparative underperformance of the fifth movie.

While this project could have addressed many issues that longtime Pirates of the Caribbean viewers had with the trajectory of the franchise, an overwhelming confluence of factors ensured that the sequel would never have worked. As such, the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise's future remains unclear, even though Pirates of the Caribbean 5's post-credits scene offered fans a bright, ultimately unrealized future for Pirates of the Caribbean 6.

This Will Likely Become A Post-Credits Scene That Goes Nowhere

The Return Of Davy Jones Isn't The Only Disappointing Post-Credits Tease In Recent Movies

While the tease of Davy Jones at the end of Pirates of the Caribbean 5 was certainly exciting when Dead Men Tell No Tales was released in 2017, it unfortunately does seem to be yet another post-credits tease for a sequel that won't happen. There have been multiple teases in post-credits scenes of movies that go nowhere, though the return of Bill Nighy's character in Pirates of the Caribbean will be one that particularly stings if it doesn't lead anywhere — which, judging by the incredibly lengthy development process of Pirates of the Caribbean 6, looks set to be the case.

Unfortunately for Disney too, they're a studio that has a bad track-record when it comes to post-credits scenes that lead nowhere, as the MCU is notorious for them. The House of Mouse isn't the only culprit, however. For example, 2019's Charlies Angels has a post-credits scene that introduced the likes of Ronda Rousey, Hailee Steinfeld, and Lili Reinheart to the would-be franchise, but due to the sequel being canceled they never got their chance to shine in a Charlies Angels film.

Another notable example alongside Pirates of the Caribbean 5 and various superhero movies (since the DCEU is just as culpable as the MCU when it comes to teasing audiences with sequels that never happen) was 2017's Power Rangers. The final moments teased the introduction of the Green Ranger in the sequel, though since Hasbro are now moving ahead with an entirely new reboot of the popular colorful martial-arts franchise, fans will never see the notorious sixth-ranger in the 2017 reboot's universe.