National Treasure: Edge of History, a reboot of the Nicolas Cage movie series, has unveiled its first glimpse of a new treasure hunter.
The adventure continues. National Treasure: Edge of History, an Original series, is streaming soon only on @DisneyPlus. #NationalTreasureSeries pic.twitter.com/O97NPetRnF
— Disney (@Disney) July 21, 2022
Revealed during San Diego Comic-Con 2022, Lisette Alexis stars as Jess Morales – a resourceful young treasure hunter who sets off on the adventure of a lifetime to find out more about her own family’s mysterious past, as well as save a lost Pan-American treasure. Additionally, Harvey Keitel will reprise the role of Peter Sadusky from the original movies, alongside Justin Bartha who will return as fan favorite, Riley Poole.
A mysterious box with even more mysterious markings can be seen in the new teaser trailer… and that’s presumably enough to pique the young adventurer’s interest. Still, it wouldn’t be a National Treasure series without plenty of intrigue and conspiracy… and there are even a few hints to the show’s plot that can be found in snatched glimpses within the trailer.
A glimpse of a map reveals Tenochtitlan – an ancient city-state thought to have been built around 1325 by the Aztecs. It later became the site of Mexico City after Hernán Cortés razed Tenochtitlan to the ground during his conquest of Mexico. It’s the date of his conquest that appears on a post-it note: 1519 to 1524.
Cortés famously made this very map during the conquest and it’s said to be based on an indigenous map, reflecting the inhabitants’ own view of the now lost city. The large structure in the center of the map is the Ceremonial Precinct, including two towers – the twin sanctuaries to Tlaloc and Huitzilopochtli. These towers were said to frame the rising sun above the Great Temple.
As for what’s written on the top of the mysterious box, that’s quite the conundrum, too. I can’t help thinking that solving its puzzle will take Morales off on a globe-trotting adventure as she unearths her family’s secrets.
Back last year, Disney ordered a 10-episode series of the National Treasure show. Jerry Bruckheimer, who produced the original movies, explained the show as “the same concept but a young cast.”
A third National Treasure film is thought to still be in development with Nic Cage.
National Treasure stars Lisette Alexis alongside Catherine Zeta-Jones, Zuri Reed, Jordan Rodrigues, Antonio Cipriano, Jake Austin Walker, Lyndon Smith, and Justin Bartha.
Mira Nair is directing the upcoming TV show based on scripts by Rick Muirragui. Jerry Bruckheimer, Jon Turteltaub, Cormac Wibberley, Marianne Wibberley, Jonathan Litman, and KristieAnne Reed are on board as executive producers along with Muirragui and Nair.
Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.