Orlando Bloom is supporting Keira Knightley after she recently spoke out about her struggles starring in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series.
“It was such a huge moment in time that is almost like … it feels almost like another lifetime now,” Bloom, 48, told Entertainment Weekly of working on the beloved Disney franchise with Knightley, 39, in an interview published on Tuesday, January 28. “But it certainly was unique and, you know, I’m always grateful.”
He continued: “I definitely understand where Keira was coming from, and she does wonderful things … I have a lot of positive takeaways.”
Bloom and Knightley starred as love interests Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann, respectively, in the first three Pirates of the Caribbean films — 2003’s The Curse of the Black Pearl, 2006’s Dead Man’s Chest and 2007’s At World’s End. The two later reprised their roles for cameos in 2017’s Dead Men Tell No Tales, which starred Brenton Thwaites as the characters’ son, Henry Turner.
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In a November 2024 interview with The Times, Knightley said she was “seen as s—” for working on the Pirates movies. “And yet because they did so well I was given the opportunity to do the films that I ended up getting Oscar nominations for,” she explained. “They were the most successful films I’ll ever be a part of and they were the reason that I was taken down publicly. So they’re a very confused place in my head.”
Knightley went on to state that she’s not interested in joining another big film franchise. “The hours are insane. It’s years of your life, you have no control over where you’re filming, how long you’re filming, what you’re filming,” she said.
Bloom, meanwhile, told EW the door isn’t closed for him returning as Will Turner on the big screen. “Listen, it was a wild and fun experience so, you know, never say never,” he said of appearing in another Pirates project. “I have a lot of respect for that experience, and Jerry [Bruckheimer], and the whole thing. But who knows? I mean, it’s sort of one of those things I really haven’t thought about it, really.”
He added: “I’m happy that I got to be a part of something that feels like it’s standing the test of time, which is cool.”
Bruckheimer, who produced all five of the Pirates movies, confirmed in May 2024 that both a reboot of the franchise and a spinoff starring Margot Robbie are in the works. “It’s two different movies,” he told EW at the time. “We hope to get ’em both made, and I think Disney agrees they really want to make the Margot one, too.”
Bloom dished on the upcoming reboot in his interview with EW, sharing, “I’ve heard [Jerry’s] pretty excited about it. It’ll be interesting to see. Jerry always brings out the big guns, as it were — pardon the pun. Cannons, I should say.”
