National Treasure Series Has Cast Nicolas Cage’s Replacement
The upcoming National Treasure reboot has cast its Nicolas Cage replacement. The show will go a different direction than the movie franchise.
This article is more than 2 years old
Disney’s search for a successor to Nicolas Cage for the National Treasure TV series is over. Not just any successor, but the first leading female actress who may very well make both Benjamin Gates and Lara Croft proud. Lisette Alexis has been cast as the lead in the reboot series which is set to stream on Disney+.
According to an exclusive report from Deadline, the National Treasure show, executive produced once again by Jerry Bruckheimer, director Jon Turtletaub and writers Marianne and Cormac Wibberley, will have Alexis play the role of Jess Morales. She will be a young DREAMer who takes the proverbial torch of Nicolas Cage’s Ben Gates and embarks on the adventure of a lifetime to uncover the truth about her past of her family and save a lost Pan-American treasure. The show is being developed by Disney Branded Television and ABC Signature.
In the National Treasure series, whose pilot episode will be written by the Wibberleys and Rick Muirragui, and directed by Mira Nair (Vanity Fair), Jess is described as a brilliant and resourceful Latina who loves mysteries and has a natural talent for solving puzzles. Throughout the course of the Disney+ original reboot show, she uncovers her own buried family history, as well as the truth about her parents and her link to the aforementioned lost treasure.
Although Nicolas Cage won’t be involved in the National Treasure reboot, his role as Ben Gates will still have some influence over Jess and her motley crew of friends who will help her on her search for the truth about her family history. This is because the show is an extension of the films that will be played out in the same universe, only it will take place years after the events of Book of Secrets. That being said, the show will be written and produced by the tender, loving, and caring hands of the Wibberleys and Bruckheimer.
The National Treasure series will be a third major on-screen credit and first leading role for Alexis, who is a rising young Mexican American actress. She recently starred alongside Sierra McCormick in the indie horror film We Need to Do Something, a psychological thriller that sees a young woman trapped in the bathroom with her family after seeking shelter from a tornado. She also co-starred with Mackenzie Ziegler in the 2018 teen dramedy and fantasy web series Total Eclipse, which can be seen on Brat TV’s YouTube channel. She is represented by Innovative Artists and Stagecoach Entertainment.
The first National Treasure film was released in 2004, and it centered on Nicolas Cage’s Ben Gates, a historian, cryptologist, and treasure hunter in his attempt to steal the Declaration of Independence in order to uncover the clue as to where the titular treasure is located. It held the number one spot for three weeks and grossed over $347 million worldwide, which lead to the production of Book of Secrets. The sequel made even more money and a bigger impression on audiences, raking in over $459 million worldwide. There have been rumors of a third sequel, but back in January 2020, it was confirmed to be in development.
