Though he originally took a hardline stance against doing any more with Captain Jack Sparrow after Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, recently Johnny Depp has seemed more open to the idea. Our sources tell us that they’re still pretty far from a deal, and that a lot of what we’ve been hearing about how close a fifth Pirates movie is to happening may not be as it seems, but there’s definitely at least some level of interest from Depp and a definite level of interest in doing more from Disney.

In fact Disney has just made the first move towards making even more Pirates of the Caribbean movies a reality. Deadline says the studio has just concluded a deal with Terry Rossio, co-writer of all three previous Pirates movies and the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, to begin scripting a fifth Pirates adventure. For this new outing Rossio will serve as the only writer on the project, he’ll work without Ted Elliott, his collaborator on the other films.

Word is that Disney is also working to resign On Stranger Tides director Rob Marshall for the next sequel. It’s an interesting move, when you consider that his first stab at directing a Pirates entry, the upcoming fourth movie, is months away from being released. There’s still plenty of room for that film to turn out as an utter disaster. It would seem the studio feels pretty confident about it.

It’s worth noting though that there’s no mention of Rossio writing the sixth movie. Up until now word was that the fifth and sixth movies would be shot back to back, in much the same way Pirates of the Caribbean 2 & 3 were. Of course they might want to get Johnny Depp on board first, before they take things that far; but if they’re shooting them back to back, you’d think they’d want Rossio writing the two films as one continuous story. This could simply be an omission on the part of the notoriously sketchy Deadline or it could be a sign that Disney’s reconsidering making such a big commitment.