What is necessary to know before seeing Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales?

Question

The fifth installment in the Pirates of the Caribbean saga has just been released.

I have only few memories of the story of the first three episodes, and I didn't see the fourth one.

If I remember correctly:

The first three episodes form a trilogy, with its own story and most of all plotlines concerning Jack Sparrow, Will and Elizabeth have an end.
The fourth episode is a new story for Jack Sparrow and some returning characters.

Is it necessary to have seen the fourth episode before watching the new one? Are the stories independent (with maybe a few references), or are they part of a new trilogy?

Gallifreyan · Accepted Answer

The first three films form the trilogy of Jack, Elizabeth, and Will, which culminates in Will being turned into the captain of the Flying Dutchman. Also, at the end of the third film, Barbossa steals the Black Pearl (again), while Jack is left with a map to the Fountain of Youth.
Neither Will nor Elizabeth are present in the 4th film; it picks up approximately where the third one left, with Jack looking for a ship to sail to the Fountain and finding his old crush, Angelica, and her dad - Captain Blackbeard.
The whole affair is irrelevant to the main story, except for the fact that we also see Captain Barbossa, who has lost the Black Pearl in a battle with Blackbeard; Barbossa is now a privateer in King's Navy - he sails in the name of the King to the Fountain, but secretly his real goal is to avenge the Pearl and his lost leg.
Long story short, at the end of the fourth film Jack is left with the Pearl which now looks like this:

Jack is last seen with Gibbs describing (very vaguely) a plan to get the Pearl out of the bottle, and Barbossa is left with Blackbeard's ship, Queen Anne's Revenge.
According to the 5th film's Wikia page, none of the characters introduced in the 4th film make an appearance; however, both Will and Elizabeth return, and since (spoiler from the 5th film!)

TL;DR, or things that are most important:

The epilogue of Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End (the 3rd film), where Will is the Captain of the Flying Dutchman, and has a son with Elizabeth.

The ending of Pirates of the Carribean: On Stranger Tides (the 4th film), Barbossa becomes the captain of Queen Anne's Revenge:

                
            
and where Black Pearl is in a bottle.

Jon · Answer

I found this on reddit:

There's one side character of PotC4 that comes back in PotC5, but apart from that, you don't need to have watched on stranger tides to be able to follow Dead men tell no tales

What is necessary to know before seeing Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales?

2 Answers

TL;DR, or things that are most important:

Add your own answers!

Ask a Question