It’s time to once again steal the declar — another important American artefact! Disney+ brought the cast of National Treasure: Edge of History to San Diego Comic-Con for a first look at the series set to hit the streamer.
In a panel led by voice actor, comedienne and What’s Up, Disney+ host Jenny Lorenzo we got to hear from the cast of the new series — which includes Lisette Olivera, Jake Austin Walker, Jordan Rodrigues, Zuri Reed, Antonio Cipriano, Lyndon Smith — alongside showrunners and executive producers Cormac Wibberley and Marianne Wibberley about the spin-off from the Nicolas Cage led franchise of films.
This time, however, Cage is nowhere to be found — Edge of History is led by a new character, Jess (played by Olivera), an immigrant DREAMer who goes a life changing journey to uncover the truth about her family’s mysterious past. “She’s a brilliant young woman who shows so much potential for the world. But her life’s at a standstill after her mother gets cancer,” Olivera teased at the series’ Comic-Con panel. “Until one day, she’s introduced to this legend from a Pan- American treasure. And it maybe involves her family. And she kind of just jumps into the dangers of it all with her friends.”
Check out the panel exclusive intro to the new character below:
During the panel, executive producers Cormac and Marianne Wibberley discussed the inspiration to shift perspectives in the franchise. “Well, we always thought we wanted to spin off with the niece of Ben Gates, but that was never going to happen,” shared original film screenwriter Marianne Wibberley. “And then one day, Cormac came in, looked at me and he said, ‘Why don’t we do the story of a Mexican girl, an immigrant studying for her citizenship test?’ And that’s when I said, ‘You can take the rest of the day off’, because that was such a great idea.”
With a new lead, the film’s original team assembled a young ensemble to support Jess, which includes someone with a certain connection to one of the film’s stars.
“Harvey Keitel is back.” announced newcomer Jake Austin Walker. “I play Liam Sandusky — the grandson of Peter Sandusky, [Keitel’s character], and Liam learns firsthand the dangers of coming from a family of treasure hunting and what that could mean in your life and how much the loss can come from that. So he chooses a more tangible career option and decides to go on to music.”
Which should come in handy when Jess embarks on a quest to find an artefact before Billie, a steely badass billionaire, played by Catherine Zeta-Jones, can get to it for likely more nefarious reasons.
Zeta-Jones was not present for the panel, but sent a recorded message of Comic-Con attendees to tell us more about her character, Billie, a black market antiques expert and treasure hunter. “We both have a lot in common actually since I’m a bit of a treasure trove person myself and fascinated by history,” Jones teased. “Billie and Jess play an intense cat and mouse game both in search of the treasure and the audience will be on the journey with us as we put together the pieces of the puzzle along the way.”
Both Keitel and Zeta-Jones are featured in the BTS featurette released to give fans a taste of the upcoming series on Disney+.
When asked if the film series star Nicholas Cage was going to return at some point in Edge of History, Marianne Wibberley shared that they want him to come back. “He’s very busy,” shared the executive producer teasing that we“may or may not” see him down the road. “He speaks so highly of the franchise. He loves it. So, you know, we’re hoping maybe one day. I hope he’ll come in and join us on the adventure as well,” Wibberley continued. “But he’s very present in the series as well. We love Ben Gates so much because he was a heroic nerd. That’s what we wanted to make. The nerd is the hero in our show.”
National Treasure: Edge of History will be streaming on Disney+ later this year.
Want more Gizmodo news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel and Star Wars releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about House of the Dragon and Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power.