It’s official: Disney+ has greenlit a National Treasure TV series. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer shared an update in May 2020 about the National Treasure projects in the works. He talked about a film (please give us National Treasure 3 stat!) and a series for Disney+ with a younger cast. And now, the latter is happening, as we learned via Deadline. The National Treasure TV series is set for 10 episodes.
Bruckheimer will serve as producer and writers for the first two National Treasure films, Cormac Wibberley and Marianne Wibberly, are part of the team as well. Mira Nair (Vanity Fair, A Suitable Boy) will direct. And as you might have surmised from the mention of the younger cast, Nicolas Cage‘s Benjamin Gates won’t lead the series. Instead, we’ll follow Jess Morales as the primary protagonist. We learned from Deadline in late October that Lisette Alexis (Total Eclipse) will play Jess.
Disney
Jess Morales is twenty years old and a DREAMer (someone who entered the United States as part of the DREAM Act). According to Deadline, Jess will set off on adventure with her diverse group of friends to uncover her family’s history and recover… you guessed it, lost treasure. A lost Pan-American treasure. Including treasure in a National Treasure TV series is a must! Putting a Latina lead at the center of the story means exploring identity, patriotism, and community. And as Deadline points out, they’ll have plenty of opportunities to explore historical authorship. Because we all know history has more than one side.
It’s not clear if Benjamin Gates will show up in the series to pass the torch to Jess. Maybe the show will just mention him in relation to his, Abigail’s, and Riley’s discoveries. But if not, don’t worry. We’ll see Cage in the role again when National Treasure 3 finally happens. And we believe it will.
Originally published March 24, 2021.
Amy Ratcliffe is the Managing Editor for Nerdist and the author of A Kid’s Guide to Fandom, available for pre-order now. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
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