Hello everyone! This past weekend, D23 2026 took place in Anaheim, California! And to answer the question you’re probably asking, no, there was no Pirates of the Caribbean 6 announcement. However, there were a few Pirates of the Caribbean related announcements that occurred this weekend! So let’s dive into it!

Jerry Bruckheimer Becomes a Disney Legend

Earlier this year, Jerry Bruckheimer was announced to be included in this year’s class of Disney Legends. And on August 16th, 2026, he was inducted into the prestigious class of honorees. But what surprised everyone was who arrived to introduce Jerry, and that was none other than Orlando Bloom himself.

“You took a chance on me at a moment in my life when everything was moving very fast. Pirates changed my life and you were a huge part of that.” – Orlando Bloom

“I’m very fortunate to be one of your actors. I’m even more fortunate to call you a friend. You deserve every accolade and all of our respect. Congratulations and welcome to the wonderful world of Disney Legends!” – Orlando Bloom

Orlando gave a beautiful opening speech for Jerry, which I was very happy to see. No one knew Orlando would be in attendance, so it was mind blowing to see him show up. But Jerry also gave a great speech of his own when he went on stage to accept the award.

“Thank you Orlando. What a great actor and a great friend, I’m so fortunate he came here tonight to introduce me. But I’m thrilled to be here in front of you because you are the fans who go see our films. But I’m only here because of the great writers, the great directors, the great actors, the crews, the people in my company, Chad Oman, Melissa Reid, and John Campbell who make this all possible.” – Jerry Bruckheimer

“You’re why we make these movies. You’re here tonight because of what we put on the screens, and you support what we do. And nobody does it better than the Disney Company, the way they promote their films, market their films, distribute their films. They become worldwide phenomenons and they make the world a better place, which it really needs. Thank you, the Disney Company, for this great accolade.” – Jerry Bruckheimer

Check out my edited video of Orlando and Jerry’s speeches on my social media accounts to see more, or if you want to watch them in full, you can watch the full Disney Legends Ceremony on Disney+.

Captain Jack Sparrow Coming to Disney Dreamlight Valley

On Day 1 of D23, the video game Disney Dreamlight Valley announced its next expansion coming to the game, called “The Keepsake Sea.” And at the end of the trailer, a familiar silhouette emerged along with the iconic line “not all treasure is silver and gold, mate.”

If you want to watch the trailer, you can do so here. But that was all the information we got on Jack’s introduction to the game. If you’ve played Disney Dreamlight Valley before, you may know that there have been some Pirates of the Caribbean themed items added to the game over the years, like Elizabeth Swann’s pirate outfit from Dead Man’s Chest, along with some decorations including the Fountain of Youth and Chest of Aztec Gold.

At the moment, we don’t know if more Pirates of the Caribbean content is coming to the game with this expansion. But we’ll find out more in October when the expansion is fully revealed.

Iron Studios’ Jack Sparrow vs. Davy Jones Statue

You may remember from last year when the company Iron Studios announced that they would be producing Pirates of the Caribbean collectibles. And just a few days ago, Iron Studios posted concept art of a collector’s statue featuring Jack Sparrow battling Davy Jones on the deck of the Flying Dutchman.

You can view Iron Studios’ Instagram post here. Now, the only thing that bugs me about this is how this piece of “concept art” that was posted seems like it was just AI generated, so we really have no idea what the actual product will look like currently. But Iron Studios has plenty of very well made collectibles, so we’ll have to see what the finished product looks like once it’s revealed.

Johnny Depp “in talks” to Return, According to Jerry Bruckheimer

With Jerry Bruckheimer in attendance at D23 to accept his Disney Legend award, obviously reporters were ready to ask him yet again about the status of Pirates of the Caribbean 6. And this is what he said.

“We’re talking to Johnny, we’re working on a screenplay, and hopefully we can get this done.” – Jerry Bruckheimer

In addition to that, an accompanying Deadline article had this to say:

Separate from Bruckheimer, some solid sources tell us that the continuation won’t feel like just the nth tale of Captain Jack Sparrow, rather the next chapter will focus on Margot Robbie’s protagonist with Sparrow as a side character. Essentially, an evolution of the franchise.

I won’t go too far into speculation here, since what Jerry said was very brief. But it seems like if Pirates of the Caribbean 6 does end up happening at some point, we could see the return of Captain Jack Sparrow.

But that’s all the Pirates of the Caribbean news from D23! This is my first time doing a “news roundup” article and I had a lot of fun writing this! While we were all hoping for an official Pirates 6 announcement this year, unfortunately that was not in the cards. But with D23 Asia taking place August 2027, we don’t have too long to wait until our next chance of an announcement. Thanks for reading!

-Justin