A new announcement revealed that Disney is working on what some are calling the perfect Pirates of the Caribbean replacement movie. For years, fans have been eagerly awaiting the next entry into Disney's beloved Pirates franchise to no avail. Every so often, whispers of the next high-seas adventures surface from the studio, before they just as quickly wash away like waves lapping a sandy shore.
As of May 2024, Pirates 6 was in development at the House of Mouse, but information about the project has been relatively scarce. This new plan, at one point, had The Wolf of Wall Street and Barbie star Margot Robbie at its heart, but no official announcement on her casting has come from the studio.
According to Deadline, Disney is working on a new live-action movie centered on the Beauty and the Beast character Gaston. Gaston is in development, written by David Callaham, who also worked on Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, and is described as having a "swashbuckling" tone.
Plot details are still being kept under wraps, but it is said to be a wholly original story centered on a new version of the character played by a new actor.
It was also reported that Loki director Kate Herron had penned a previous version of the Gaston script with Briony Redman, and The Force Awakens' Michelle Rejwan was set to produce the project.
No release timing or casting information on the project is available at this time.
The Perfect Pirates Replacement Emerges
As of writing, it has been over eight years since the release of the last Pirates of the Caribbean movie. And, nearly a decade later, there is no sign of a new film from the cutlass-clad Disney franchise.
So, this Gaston movie could potentially fill that void. Just looking from the outside, one may question how a film centered on the iconic Beauty and the Beast big bad could step in and take the wheel from the Pirates franchise, but this mention of a "swashbuckling" tone should excite fans of high-seas adventure.
One can assume that this would be a prequel to Beauty and the Beast, following the central antagonist on his various exploits before fans came to see him fawning over the beautiful Belle in the 1991 classic.
His look has always given off a nautical vibe, so setting him against the backdrop of the open ocean could make sense, perhaps following the character as he hunts down some long-lost treasure.
Disney has not all that often dipped its toes into the salty waters of pirate fiction, so it is notable to see that the studio is seemingly ready to head back to the world of privateers. The fact that it would be done with a character as iconic as Gaston makes it all the more exciting.
The Gaston project can satisfy some of the hunger for more Pirates movies from the House of Mouse, hopefully, giving the studio some more time to figure out what to do with the classic peg-legged franchise (read more about the latest Pirates of the Caribbean updates here).
