A Great Scene In Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest Shows The Wasted Potential Of A Key Subplot

Although the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise had plenty of intriguing supporting stars, one Dead Man's Chest character proves that the sequels often wasted these under-utilized figures. Anyone who has seen the frustrating Pirates of the Caribbean sequels can attest to the franchise’s missteps. The later sequels lightened the tone of the series, losing the horror-centric edge of the original blockbuster, and made Jack Sparrow the star of the franchise. Although Johnny Depp’s antihero was an iconic character in small doses, his ascendancy to main character status drained his charm of its novelty and made him a tiresome, over-exposed leading man.

However, a glance at the many villains of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise proves that this wasn’t the only major issue that the series had with its characters. The Pirates of the Caribbean movies also had a terrible tendency to introduce promising new side characters, only to promptly forget about them immediately after their introduction. After the finale of Dead Man’s Chest introduced Davy Jones’ Lovecraftian monster the Kraken, At World’s End abruptly revealed that the gigantic beast had been killed off-screen. Sadly, the Kraken’s disappointing Pirates of the Caribbean death wasn’t even Dead Man’s Chest’s worst mistake.

Bootstrap Bill's First Scene In Dead Man's Chest Set High Expectations For The POTC Character

Dead Man’s Chest Implied Stellan Skarsgard’s Character Would Prove Pivotal

2006’s Dead Man’s Chest never quite got a handle on its tone, but the sequel featured some truly great standalone moments. One of these is the introduction of Will’s estranged father, Stellan Skarsgard’s Bootstrap Bill. A disfigured, undead member of Davy Jones’ immortal crew, Bootstrap Bill is a former acquaintance of Jack. Bootstrap Bill is introduced as a chilling new villain in Dead Man’s Chest, initially getting along well with Jack before he reminds him of his debt to Davy Jones. Bill brands Jack with the Black Spot to warn him that the Kraken is after him, but seems genuinely troubled by this.

Thanks to his longstanding respect for Jack, Bill is conflicted about his duty to Jones. The scene leans into Skarsgard’s grizzled screen persona as he admits his role in the mutiny to Jack. Then, the Pirates of the Caribbean sequels proceeded to effectively forget about Bootstrap Bill’s relationship with Jack entirely. When he is occasionally seen throughout the rest of Dead Man’s Chest and At World’s End, Bootstrap Bill mostly only exists as an obstacle to Will and Elizabeth’s happiness. Even then, he is the least of their problems and feels mostly superfluous in an already overstuffed story.

How Bootstrap Bill Was Wasted In Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

The Pirates of the Caribbean Sequel Never Gave Bootstrap Bill Anything To Do

Bootstrap Bill’s introduction oozes with atmosphere and has some incredibly potent tension built into its premise. The revelation that Will’s father is Jones’ messenger and the harbinger of Jack’s impending doom is ingenious, but this never goes anywhere in the subsequent movies. Jack dies and returns from the dead soon after, Davy Jones is eventually defeated, and Bootstrap Bill barely even gets a role in the ensuing melee. All in all, the presence of Will’s father barely impacts the plot. Although Skarsgard afforded his Dead Man's Chest character a memorably creepy screen presence, the Pirates of the Caribbean movies sadly wasted Bootstrap Bill’s potential.