Pirates of the Caribbean Characters Guide

Prepare for Dead Men Tell No Tales with our Pirates of the Caribbean characters guide!

Aye avast! Ye come seeking salty old pirates and new adventurers, eh? Ye come to the proper place!

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales reunites Jack Sparrow with old friends and brings along new ones in the latest high seas adventure from Disney and producer Jerry Bruckheimer. Johnny Depp returns as Captain Jack Sparrow, who finds himself on the run from the dangerous Captain Salazar (Javier Bardem), and questing for the mythical Trident of Poseidon. It just so happens that Salazar is also after the trident to track him down, an ambitious scholar also follows in the pursuit of the fabled object and a new ally joins forces with Jack to find a way to save his father with it.

With Dead Men Tell No Tales, directors Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg aim to bring things full circle in the series. Elements from Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Peal inspired the tone of the latest chapter in the franchise and brings back beloved characters played by Geoffrey Rush, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley and Kevin McNally

To brush up on who’s who and who’s actually coming back, here’s a guide to the key Pirates of the Caribbean characters. We also include more details on Bardem’s big bad and the two new leads played by Brenton Thwaites and Kaya Scodelario. We’ve also included photos from the Shanghai World Premiere, which took place on Thursday, May 11, 2017.

Read on me hearties! Yo ho!

Captain Jack Sparrow

Yes, the Captain’s back and getting into more trouble as usual! Having lost his groove with the ocean and having tempted fate too many times, Jack seeks the Trident of Poseidon to get his mojo back on the seas. Unfortunately for him, he’s vying for it with a long lost enemy and a couple of new kids. Finding himself in a situation not too dissimilar from Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Sparrow faces a new curse, a threat to pirates, and new friend who seeks out their family.

Henry Turner

Brenton Thwaites joins the franchise as Henry Turner. That’s right – the son of Will and Elizabeth Turner, now a grown young man. He meets up with Sparrow to get his help in finding the trident in order to break the curse on his father and gets swept up in the Captain’s dangerous crossfires, just like his parents did.

Carina Smyth

The third character seeking the trident is Carina Smyth (Kaya Scodelario), a determined astronomer and aspiring academic in a time where women couldn’t go to school. To her, attaining the artifact will ensure her right to study and prove her keen instinct as a scholar. Following the clues she has collected to lead her to the item, she finds herself working with Turner and Sparrow to stop the evil Salazar from getting there first.

Captain Salazar

Once a high-ranking Captain of the Spanish Navy, this once pirate hunter encountered a young Jack Sparrow in a battle that ended with him getting trapped in the Devil’s Triangle. While it was one of Sparrow’s first victories on the sea, saving his crew from Salazar, it would be one that would come back to haunt him. In Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, the crazed and cursed Captain aims to get his revenge by killing Jack and wiping out all pirates once and for all with Poseidon’s Trident. Captain Salazar is played by Academy Award winner Javier Bardem.

Captain Hector Barbossa

Villain turned ally, the one-legged Captain of the Queen Anne’s revenge might be turning to the dark side once again if the film’s trailer is any indication. Boarded by Salazar, Barbossa’s life and crew are intimidated by the dead man walking and may be roped into helping track down Jack Sparrow. Captain Barbossa, played by Academy Award winner Geoffrey Rush, has appeared in every film in the franchise to date.

Will Turner

Orlando Bloom‘s character, who broke the curse of the Black Pearl and became the new Davy Jones, has appeared in numerous trailers for the latest film. While Will Turner’s son seeks to find a way to break him out of his doomed destiny as the Captain of the Flying Dutchman, it looks like Turner might just be enlisted to fight off the looming threat of Salazar and his crew of the undead.

Elizabeth Turner

Mother of Henry, Kiera Knightley reprises her role as Elizabeth to some degree in the new film. We got a brief look at her in the Japanese Dead Men Tell No Tales trailer. The extent of her role remains to be seen, but it’s awesome to potentially see the old crew back together. In the end credits scene of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, we see Mrs. Turner and her now 10-year-old son as Will Turner returns after serving his 10 years as the Captain of the Flying Dutchman.

Joshamee Gibbs

GIBBS! The series’ storyteller from the start, Gibbs (Kevin McNally) has been the shepherd of the films since Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. He tells the tales of Captain Jack Sparrow as his trusty ally and friend. While we haven’t seen too much of him in the newest trailers, we’re hoping Jack’s first mate isn’t too far behind!

And let’s not forget Jack the Monkey!

Barbosa’s trusty pet (named after Jack Sparrow) and the series MVP is a fan fave who we always love to see. He’s on the IMAX poster that just dropped, so we have a sneaky suspicion that he’ll be pirate-monkeying around in the new film.