Why Elizabeth & Will Didn't Return In Pirates of the Caribbean 4

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Will and Elizabeth didn't return for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides because Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley wanted to pursue other projects. For all the attention Johnny Depp received for his Oscar-nominated performance as Jack Sparrow in 2003's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, he wasn't the film's lead(s). That honor went to Bloom and Knightley, who co-starred as the star-crossed lovers Will Turner, a humble blacksmith's apprentice, and Elizabeth Swann, the adventure-seeking daughter of Governor Weatherby Swann. It's unknown if Bloom and Knightley will return for Pirates of the Caribbean 6.

In the wake of The Curse of the Black Pearl's success at the box office, Disney green-lit a pair of sequels to be shot back-to-back, with Bloom and Knightley reprising their respective roles. Titled Dead Men's Chest and At World's End, the films would go on to follow the pair as their wedding plans are interrupted. Their fates once again intertwined with Jack's, with Will attempting to free his father, Bill, from an eternity of servitude aboard Davy Jones' ship, the Flying Dutchman, and Elizabeth unexpectedly being elected the new Pirate King (with a bit of help from Jack). In the end, Will and Elizabeth finally get married before Will is killed in the climactic battle with Jones and then resurrected as the Dutchman's new captain, but at a price: he and Elizabeth can only see one another every ten years when he's able to set foot on land again.

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Both Bloom and Knightley focused on acting in live theater and smaller films after wrapping the trilogy, and have only appeared in a handful of tentpoles in the years since. Meanwhile, On