The Rock Star Who Almost Replaced Keith Richards in ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’

Although it was almost hard to recognize him, what with all the sea-worn facial scars and torso-length dreadlocks, the massive skull ring on his knobbly finger gave Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards away when he was playing Captain Edward Teague in the third and fourth films of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, At World’s End and On Stranger Tides.

But for a brief moment in time, the father role of Captain Jack Sparrow, famously played by Johnny Depp, almost went to another raucous rockstar from the U.K. And in hindsight, who better to play a ruthless, swaggering pirate lord than the Prince of Darkness himself?

Who Almost Beat Keith Richards For ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ Role?

Indeed, dear reader, let’s all imagine a timeline in which, instead of Keith Richards, it was Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne playing the role of the dreadloc-ed, guitar-playing pirate lord father to Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean. The possibility of such a cameo even occurring remained an industry secret until Osbourne’s manager, wife, and mother to his children, Sharon Osbourne, revealed what she called the “biggest mistake she ever made” in a February 2025 interview with Billy Corgan.

During her appearance on Corgan’s The Magnificent Others podcast, the two music industry veterans discussed Sharon’s long-time position as her husband’s manager. Credit where credit is due: managing someone like Ozzy is no small feat. Sharon stood by her husband’s side amidst his substance abuse addictions, insane antics in front of musicians and music executives alike, and, later in life, his physical ailments. However, when the Pirates crew reached out to Sharon in the late 2000s about her husband playing a role in the movie, she swiftly turned them away.

“I’ve never said this to anyone,” Sharon said. “I said no. Now, wouldn’t he have been perfect?” Corgan respectfully replied, “Maybe it’s not too late,” to which Sharon responded with a dismissive hand wave. Hindsight is always 20/20, of course, but that pirate ship has already sailed.

How Did The Rolling Stones Guitarist Land The Part?

Pirates of the Caribbean was one of the biggest movie franchises of the late 2000s, but that didn’t make Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards’ role in the films any less surprising. Other than a few cameo appearances as himself, including on the animated series The Simpsons, Richards certainly wasn’t known for his acting chops. Back when he had the opportunity to stretch his thespian legs during his 1978 Saturday Night Live appearance, producers cut his sketches because he didn’t appear to know where he was on set.

But when one considers the character-building process of Richards’ character’s son, the connection becomes more clear. Johnny Depp used the swaggering British rock ‘n’ roller as a large inspiration for his character, Captain Jack Sparrow, which meant that the similarities between father and son were evident without Richards having to, well, act that much. Still, we can’t help but imagine what the movies might have looked like with Ozzy Osbourne playing the role of a pirate lord instead.

Like Richards, Osbourne had little acting experience except for the times when he appeared in film and television as himself. We don’t doubt that the Prince of Darkness would have added an even more gothic, heavy-metal attitude to the role of Captain Edward Teague. Who knows, maybe the Pirates writers could have written Ozzy biting the head off a fish (instead of a bat) into the script.

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