Pirates of the Caribbean Cast: Actors, Directors and Who Returned

Johnny Depp is billed first as Jack Sparrow in all five main films, and Kevin McNally is the only other actor who also appears in every one of them, as Joshamee Gibbs. This table tracks the actors who return across the saga, using the credited names.

The first film, Curse of the Black Pearl, put Depp, Rush, Bloom and Knightley at the top of the billing, with Davenport as the navy officer Norrington and Pryce as Governor Swann. Lee Arenberg and Mackenzie Crook played the cursed pirates Pintel and Ragetti, and they stayed on through the next two films.

Dead Man's Chest added Bill Nighy as Davy Jones, Stellan Skarsgård as Bootstrap Bill, Tom Hollander as Cutler Beckett and Naomie Harris as Tia Dalma, and all four carried into At World's End. Nighy's Davy Jones was a motion capture performance.

On Stranger Tides reset the ensemble around new faces: Penélope Cruz as Angelica, Ian McShane as Edward "Blackbeard" Teach, Sam Claflin as Philip and Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey as Syrena. Keith Richards appeared as Captain Teague. Dead Men Tell No Tales brought in Javier Bardem as Armando Salazar, Brenton Thwaites as Henry Turner and Kaya Scodelario as Carina Smyth.

For the roles themselves, see the Pirates of the Caribbean characters page, or go straight to Jack Sparrow, Barbossa and Davy Jones.

Four directors have worked on the five main films: Gore Verbinski directed the first three, Rob Marshall directed the fourth, and Espen Sandberg and Joachim Rønning shared the fifth. The series began with a Disneyland attraction that debuted in 1967, and The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), directed by Verbinski, premiered at Disneyland on June 28, 2003, ahead of its July 9 US release.

Verbinski stayed for the whole first trilogy: Curse of the Black Pearl (2003, $140 million budget), Dead Man's Chest (2006, $225 million) and At World's End (2007, $300 million). The last two were shot back to back, which is a big reason the story of Davy Jones and the East India Trading Company plays as one long arc. Dead Man's Chest won the Oscar for Best Visual Effects, and Curse of the Black Pearl earned five Oscar nominations.

Rob Marshall took over for On Stranger Tides (2011), a 136 minute film built on a hunt for the Fountain of Youth, with Blackbeard's ship the Queen Anne's Revenge at the center. It cost $250 million, according to Box Office Mojo. Production on Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017) began in Queensland, Australia in February 2015 at Village Roadshow Studios, with Sandberg and Rønning directing, and the film cost $230 million with a 129 minute runtime.

The composers changed more often than the directors. Klaus Badelt scored the first film, Hans Zimmer scored the next three, and Geoff Zanelli scored Dead Men Tell No Tales. One Zimmer track from At World's End is listed among that film's notable songs, and the full breakdown sits on the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack page. For budgets and grosses by director, see Pirates of the Caribbean box office.

Across the five main films, none of the principal roles changed hands: every major character is played by the same actor each time, so there is no recast to report. What changes is who comes back. In my opinion, that makes the franchise unusual, because the ensemble rotated through villains and love interests while Depp and McNally held the center.

The clearest exit is the Turner and Swann family. Bloom, Knightley, Davenport and Pryce anchored the first three films, and by On Stranger Tides none of them were billed. Bloom and Knightley return in Dead Men Tell No Tales, billed 14th and 15th, which points to smaller parts for Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann, while Will's son Henry Turner is played by Thwaites, billed fourth. It could be argued that this handoff is the most deliberate casting move in the series, since it passes the Turner story to a new generation without replacing anyone.

Rush is the other long runner. He is billed second in the first film and third in the fourth and fifth, and he is not among the top fifteen billed in Dead Man's Chest. Perhaps the most telling detail is that Barbossa gains the first name Hector in the credits from On Stranger Tides onward, a small retcon of how the character is presented. Likewise Gibbs is credited as Joshamee Gibbs in the first, fourth and fifth films and simply Gibbs in the second and third.

Smaller recurring players matter too. Damian O'Hare plays Lt. Gillette in the first film and Gillette again in the fourth, while Stephen Graham's Scrum bridges On Stranger Tides and Dead Men Tell No Tales.

As for a sixth film, Jerry Bruckheimer said in March 2024 that the next Pirates film would be a reboot, according to NBC News. In August 2026, at Disney's D23 event, he said the team is talking with Johnny Depp and working on a screenplay, as reported by Gulf News. Disney has not announced a cast, release date or greenlight, and Depp has said only that he is open to one more film to "send them off on a better note". Gulf News also lists Bruckheimer as producer and Jeff Nathanson as writer, both reported. A 2020 report of a Margot Robbie led reboot remains unconfirmed, and Robbie said in 2022 that Disney was no longer interested in a female led film. Follow the status on the Pirates of the Caribbean 6 page. To watch the casts in sequence, use the Pirates of the Caribbean movies in order guide.