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Catherine Zeta-Jones to star in Disney+ series adaptation of 'National Treasure'
Still no word on Nic Cage, tho.
There’s still no word on if we’ll see Nicolas Cage in the Disney+ series National Treasure, but now we know the project will at least have one A-list movie star among its treasure-hunting ranks.
Catherine Zeta-Jones (Entrapment, The Mask of Zorro) has joined the series as new character Billie, who Disney+ describes as a “badass billionaire, black-market antiquities expert, and treasure hunter who lives by her own code.” She comes from a poor background, but built herself into a successful businesswoman and adventurer on the prowl for Pan-American treasure that has some deeper meaning to her own personal history.
Zeta-Jones is likely best known to genre fans for her roles in films like The Mask of Zorro, Entrapment, Oceans 12 and Red 2. She also won an Academy Award for her role in the film version of Chicago. Along with the National Treasure gig, she’s also set to play Morticia Addams in the upcoming Addams Family revival Wednesday at Netflix.
The National Treasure series look to capture some of the same spirit as the hit films starring Nic Cage, but with a new hero at the heart of the story. The show will follow new character Jess (Lisette Alexis), a DREAMer digging into her family’s past and how it (you guessed it!) intersects with a mysterious treasure.
The franchise started on the big screen with 2004’s National Treasure and 2007’s National Treasure: Book of Secrets, focused on Nic Cage’s treasure-hunter Ben Gates, who steals the Declaration of Independence to find the missing link for an elaborate treasure map. A third film reportedly never happened because Disney had trouble seeing it as a fully-formed franchise, as opposed to just a series of films.
Fans have been clamoring for a sequel for years, but we’re getting this streaming series instead. It’s a fun world and concept — basically a more Disney-fied take on Indiana Jones — but it’ll be interesting to see if it can work without that bizarro Nic Cage energy holding it together. Or heck, who knows, maybe they're simply holding back details of a Nic Cage role.
No word yet on when we might actually get to see this new adventure in the National Treasure-verse, but with this last bit of key casting locked down, it stands to reason production is likely ready to roll. So hopefully we'll have some more details soon.
