A new international trailer revealed a piece of information that had been rumored for some time. Keira Knightly will be reprising her role as Elizabeth Swann in the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie. This means that all three main characters from the original three films will be there. This opens up a fantastic opportunity. The original trilogy ended on a bittersweet note in regards to the relationship between Elizabeth Swann and Will Turner, and it's time to make that love story a lot more sweet, and much less bitter. Will Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales break the curse of Davy Jones so that Will and Elizabeth can finally be together? It damn well better.
In Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Will Turner is fatally injured by Davy Jones and the only way to keep him from dying is to transfer the curse of Davy Jones to Will, allowing the supernatural forces to keep him alive. This is done, and while it means that Will stays alive, it also means that he's only allowed to walk on land once every 10 years. Once the battle is won, Will and Elizabeth spend some time together as husband and wife, before Will takes control of the Flying Dutchman and sails off. In a post-credits sequence we see Elizabeth, and the 10-year-old result of their final union, walking to the beach to see dad for his one special day.
It's a beautiful moment but it's also heartbreaking. While it means a great deal to know that this family will remain as strong as it possibly can, the fact that they will never be whole isn't the happy ending these two characters should have had. Make no mistake, as popular as Captain Jack Sparrow is, the original trilogy is about Will and Elizabeth, not Sparrow. Not every movie needs to have a happy ending, but this is a Disney adventure film and it's the end of a trilogy. This is where happy endings are supposed to happen, and these two never got one.
While we've known for quite some time that Orlando Bloom would be returning for the series' new installment, no such confirmation was to be had regarding Keira Knightly. There were rumors, but even as rumors go, they seemed less than certain. However, now we know that Elizabeth Swann will appear in the new film as well. While the size of her role is unknown at this point, the fact that she's in the movie at all, even in a simple cameo has to be given a reason and if she's in the film you can't have her not interacting with her husband Will Turner.
While we know that Orlando Bloom is in the movie, we don't really know what role Davy Jones plays in the larger story. However, we do know that Brenton Thwaites is in the film as Henry Turner, the son of Will and Elizabeth, and that Henry's goal in the film is to break the curse of his father.
Since the only way to break the curse previously was death, it would take some powerful magic to make something like that happen, but perhaps the Trident of Poseidon, the object everybody will be looking for in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, is something with the power to make that happen.
If the curse is truly broken then there is one moment that the new film would need to show, Will and Elizabeth together again. It's possible that the single shot that we see of her in this trailer is her seeing Will coming back to her, her family finally reunited. While we're hoping we see more of Keira Knightly in the film, if this is all we get it will be enough.
If Keira Knightly wasn't in the movie, then we could let this go. But the fact that she's there gives these characters an opportunity for a proper farewell and we hope we see it when Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales debuts next month. Want to see the latest trailer? Hit the next page and give it a spin.
