Antonio Banderas Knows Who Should Be The Next Zorro
Antonio Banders is open to returning as Zorro for a third film, and would like to pass the mantle to actor Tom Holland.
Antonio Banderas is willing to once again don the mask and wield the sword of Zorro for another film, but only to pass the torch to a new generation. The 62-year-old Once Upon a Time in Mexico star would be open to revisit one of his favorite roles, but only if he can pass the torch along to a Marvel star, he revealed in an interview with ComicBook.com’s Chris Killian. Surprisingly, his first choice for the new Zorro would be Spider-Man himself, British actor Tom Holland.
“Yes, I would, I would consider that possibility, why not?” Banderas said of returning to the role. He worked with Holland on 2021’s action flick Uncharted, and found him to be “energetic and fun,” and he would “do what Anthony Hopkins did for me, which is to pass the torch” in 1998’s The Mask of Zorro. Banderas starred in two Zorro films, with The Mask of Zorro followed up with 2005’s The Legend of Zorro, both directed by Martin Campell (Casino Royale, GoldenEye). While Mask was a critically acclaimed adventure with a classic sense of romanticism, Legend was an inferior sequel, that failed to capture the wit and charm of the original.
Quentin Tarantino loves the films so much, however, that he reportedly proposed making a crossover film to Antonio Banderas, which would have seen Zorro team up with Jamie Foxx’s Django from Django Unchained. While both Banderas and Foxx are open to reprising their roles, the film never got any traction, although it could certainly still happen.
An Antonio Banderas Zorro sequel might have to contend with a new TV series. Last year, it was announced that a new Zorro series, from producers Robert and Rebecca Rodriquez, was in development at the CW Network. The potential series would feature a twist: a female Zorro, but the series may have hit a stumbling block in recent months. Warner Bros. recently sold the CW, and the new owners are cancelling most of the network’s current series and ending development of new ones, as they shift to reality-based programming, which likely means the new Zorro series will need to find a new home.
There is also a new Disney+ Zorro series in development, with Wilmer Valderrama (That 70s Show) in the lead role. Yet another potential Zorro film would be set in the future, with Zorro righting wrongs as a computer hacker. With the Zorro character now in the public domain, just about anyone could make a Zorro film or TV series, although Antonio Banderas’s version would certainly be the one to get the most attention.
Antonio Banderas is currently doing a press tour for Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, an animated film based on his character that originally appeared in the Shrek movies. The swashbuckling feline character, which borrows quite a bit from Zorro, has become a successful spinoff series, and may have Banderas contemplating swinging a sword once more in real life. In the film, Puss discovers he has used up eight of his nine lives, and goes on a quest to find the Wishing Star and get some of his lives back.
