Javier Bardem Eyes "Pirates 5" Bad Guy

Javier Bardem ("Skyfall," "No Country for Old Men") is in early talks to play the villain in the upcoming "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales" says Variety.

 "Kon-Tiki" directors Joachim Rønning and Espen Sandberg are due to call action and are reportedly working on the latest draft of the script after Jeff Nathanson (Men in Black 3) did a rewrite of his initial script.

Ronning and Espen Sandberg said that the new film will be a combination of a stand-alone story, and adding to the "overall mythology of the series" (Read not as stand-alone as "Stranger Tides " but not as mythology heavy as the first two sequels--Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End).

Franchise star Johnny Depp's nefarious do gooder Jack Sparrow will get a new female lead to play off of, a woman who will be accused of witchcraft though is actually a scientist. Rebecca Hall is said to be circling to play Carina.

Orlando Bloom seemingly retired from the Pirates of the Caribbean film series after the third film. He and Keira Knightley's characters were replaced by Sam Claflin and Astrid Bergès-Frisbey in "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" but the dynamic did not work as well. Now Bloom's character of Will Turner may return for Pirates 5

Bardem is reportedly set to play a ghost captain who blames Jack Sparrow for the death of his brother and is searching for a supernatural object to aid him. Christoph Waltz ("Inglourious Basterds," "Django Unchained") took some interest in playing the role at one time. Bardem's wife, Penelope Cruz,, played the female lead in"Tides".

Here's a brief film synopsis:

"Jack and his team are in search of The Trident, which Captain Teague (Keith Richards) holds valuable information to. The villain this time is Captain Brand, a ghost that wants the Trident so he can get his revenge on Jack. Brand believes Jack turned his brother Eric into a pirate, which led to his death. Also, Jack becomes enchanted by arbosa's (Geoffrey Rush) daughter, Carina Smyth, a woman called a witch by some though she's actually an adept astronomer."

Jerry Bruckheimer returns to produce the sequel.

The myth of the Bermuda Triangle will factor in somehow.

Production begins next year in Australia.for a Summer 2017 release.