The popular National Treasure franchise is returning in a new way on Disney+. The studio has officially given the green light to a ten-episode series that will debut exclusively on the streamer.
According to Deadline, Mira Nair, who directed Disney’s Queen of Katwe, has signed on to direct. The project, from the films’ producer Jerry Bruckheimer and original writers Marianne and Cormac Wibberley. The new series is said to be a reimaging of the franchise. The series explores the timely issues of identity, community, historical authorship, and patriotism, told from the point of view of Jess Morales, a twenty-year-old dreamer who, with her diverse group of friends, sets off on the adventure of a lifetime to uncover her mysterious family history and recover lost treasure.
Read: National Treasure – A Duology Retrospective
The Wibberleys will also executive produce with Jerry Bruckheimer Television. ABC Signature is the studio. Senior-level writers are expected to join the Wibberleys, whose TV credits include the Bad Boys spin-off LA’s Finest. They have worked with Bruckheimer on several movies, including National Treasure films and the live-action/CGI hybrid G-Force.
The National Treasure series was developed under Disney Branded Television, led by Gary Marsh. It has been on parallel tracks to the long-in-development third film that is expected to see the return of Nicolas Cage’s Benjamin Gates, which brought in Chris Bremner (Bad Boys For Life) as a writer in January 2020.
Released in 2004, National Treasure followed Ben Gates (Cage) and his team (Justin Bartha and Diane Krueger) as they race to find the legendary Templar Treasure before a team of mercenaries. The film grossed $347 million at the worldwide box office. This led Disney to release a sequel in 2007 titled Book of Secrets which grossed an astounding $447 million worldwide.
