That’s not quite the same as just putting the franchise on the backburner or thinking they might save money with a cheaper film to reboot the franchise — which was always based off a theme park ride, not Johnny Depp’s now iconic character.
That said, if Johnny Depp’s lawyers are arguing that he was dropped just a few days after Amber Heard’s op-ed, then there may be something on the record in terms of a phone call to his reps firing him for a specific reason.