Zoe Saldana Loved Pirates Of The Caribbean But Would Never Go Back - Here's Why

Long before she first boarded Peter Quill's starship the Milano as one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe's Guardians of the Galaxy in 2014, actor Zoe Saldana embarked on a different kind of vessel in the 2003 blockbuster "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl." In this movie, she has a small role as Anamaria, a pirate looking to recover her boat the Jolly Mon, which Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) stole from her. Since Saldana was still a relative newcomer to movies when "Pirates" came out — her most notable credit before it being for "Crossroads" opposite Britney Spears — Anamaria's absence from the rest of the film series went without notice.

Since that time, of course, Saldana's career has soared into the stratosphere with roles in the "Star Trek" reboot film series, the "Guardians" trilogy, two "Avengers" films, and the "Avatar" film series. Despite all her success, however, Saldana said she wouldn't return to the "Pirates" franchise if she had the chance.

"What a great movie. It really was fun and entertaining and very well shot, very well performed," she told BuzzFeed UK. "It was all around such a diverse cast as well, all ages, all walks of life, but a hard production. It was just so big! It was too big of a machine for me, and it was too out of control. So what I see that transpired on-screen I'm very proud of. How difficult it was to get there? I don't ever want to go back."

Asked if there was ever potential for Anamaria to return after "The Curse of the Black Pearl" — which is surprisingly the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie that made the least money in theaters — Zoe Saldana said she knew it was a one-and-done situation from the start. "I was only asked to be a part of one, and then that was it," she recalled.

However, Saldana harbors no resentment over that fact. "There was just a lot of politics that you would've had to navigate, and I just felt really lost and very small in that big machine," she said. "But I'm happy for all the actors that benefitted from this, because they certainly did, and they went off to have amazing careers, and I followed their careers and felt really inspired, but for me, it was definitely an experience not worth repeating."

The star's thoughts about "Pirates" came about a year after franchise producer Jerry Bruckheimer apologized to the actor for her negative experiences on the film. "That really moved me," Saldana told Entertainment Weekly in October 2022.

Now, after her long run in high-profile theatrical projects, Saldana wants to get out of the blockbuster business. Her first step toward that goal started with the 2021 miniseries "Maya and the Three," continued with the 2022 miniseries "From Scratch," and perseveres with the 2023 small-screen project "Special Ops: Lioness," on which she plays the head of a CIA program that engages in special missions in the war on terror.