He Lived Every Fan's Dream With Johnny Depp On Pirates Of The Caribbean — Why Does Sam Claflin Regret It?

Sam Claflin has had a sneaky-great run over the last 15 years — Finnick in The Hunger Games, a scene-stealer in Peaky Blinders, and a full-blown rock star in Daisy Jones & The Six. But the way his film career actually began? That might be the wildest part. His first-ever movie gig was 2011’s Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, opposite Johnny Depp. And now he’s admitting that the dream job came with some very real growing pains.

The rookie on a mega-franchise

On SiriusXM’s Radio Andy, Claflin looked back at being 25, fresh out of LAMDA, and suddenly dropped into Disney’s biggest live-action franchise. He says the whole experience triggered major imposter syndrome. He overcorrected by taking everything deadly seriously and bending over backwards to keep everyone happy — his words, he went into people-pleasing to the nth degree.

There’s a telling moment he shared from early on: the writers asked if he had ideas to add more to his character. Claflin says he basically waved them off, telling them everything was perfect and he’d do whatever was asked. As he puts it, it was very much a 'You say jump, I’ll say how high' mindset. Not exactly the collaborative swing you want when you’re trying to find a character — but also a very understandable response from a just-graduated actor staring down a billion-dollar machine.

'One of my biggest regrets is that I didn’t have more fun with that job specifically.'

He wishes he’d relaxed. The shoot was in Hawaii. Pirate ships. Jungles. A stacked cast and crew. He calls it one of the most dreamlike shoots of his career — and still magical — but he piled so much pressure on himself that he feels like he overdid it in a lot of ways.

Who and what he was playing

On Stranger Tides is the fourth Pirates movie and the first without Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley. Disney used the chance to shake up the roster: Claflin played a captured missionary folded into Blackbeard’s crew — yes, the one with literal zombies — while sharing the screen with heavy hitters Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz, Ian McShane, and Geoffrey Rush.

Where the franchise went next (and where it might be going)

• On Stranger Tides landed in 2011 as Pirates 4, pivoting away from Will Turner and Elizabeth Swann.
• Six years later, we got one more entry (Dead Men Tell No Tales in 2017) and then the series went quiet.
• Producer Jerry Bruckheimer has been trying to revive it. A Margot Robbie-led project was in development but ultimately shelved.
• Claflin has said he’s up for returning if the franchise comes back around.

What’s next for Claflin — and where to watch Pirates

Here’s a fun twist: Claflin is expected to reunite with Johnny Depp later this year on Ti West’s take on A Christmas Carol. West is best known for stylish horror, so that pairing is an eye-catcher.

If this has you craving a rewatch, the Pirates films are on Disney+. The current pricing: $11.99/month with ads, $18.99/month ad-free, or $189.99/year for the ad-free plan (Disney says that saves about 16% vs paying monthly).

Bottom line: Claflin is pretty candid about wishing he’d loosened up on his first movie, but he still looks back on Pirates 4 as a magical, pinch-me experience. Sounds like he learned the hard lessons early — and kept the swashbuckling memories.