Disney+ just released a teaser trailer for their upcoming action-adventure series, National Treasure: Edge of History.
The upcoming series has been described as an expansion of the Nicolas Cage-led film franchise, where the Ghostrider actor stars as a historian and code-breaker Ben Gates. The historian had been searching his whole life for a rumoured national treasure that dated back to the creation of the United States itself. He joins an expedition led by a fellow treasure hunter; Ian Howe portrayed by Sean Bean. The treasure is learned to be linked to the Declaration of Independence, and the movie features mystery, plot twists, and betrayal.
The Disney+ Series
The logline for National Treasure: Edge of History reads: “The series is set to explore timely issues of identity, community, historical authorship, and patriotisms 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 save a lost Pan-American treasure.”
The National Treasure: Edge of History trailer itself is merely a short 17-second teaser trailer that shows a hatted silhouette walking into a dimly lit office, the typical office of a treasure hunter featuring a board covered in maps, snippets of paper, articles, and notes. As the silhouette walks closer to the board, we see flashes of images like a cryptic cube, more maps, magnifying equipment, and some sort of artefact that looks to be made from bone (if you are watching the trailer for yourself, you might need to slow the video playback speed down considerably to see these!). The silhouette removes her hat to reveal a woman whom we know to be Jess Morales, the leading lady at the centre of this new mystery.
Cast and Their Characters
It was recently announced that the Pulp Fiction star Harvey Keitel will return to the series, reprising his role as Peter Sadusky from the original films. Other confirmed stars for National Treasure: Edge of History include Lisette Alexis from We Need to Do Something as lead actress Jess Morales, Catherine Zeta-Jones from Prodigal Son as Billie, Zuri Reed from Flatbush Misdemeanors as Tasha, Lyndon Smith from Parenthood as FBI Agent Ross, Jake Austin Walker from DC’s Stargirl as Liam, Antonio Cipriano from Jagged Little Pill as Oren, and finally Jordan Rodriques from Light as a Feather as Ethan.
Impressive Roster of Directors, Executive Producers, and Writers
The first episode of the series is set to be directed by Mira Nair, who you may know from her work on Queen of Katwe, and the story is from a screenplay written by the original film’s writers, Marianno and Cormac Wibberley. The National Treasure: Edge of History series itself hails from the original film producer Jerry Bruckheimer and the Webberleys again, who will all be serving as executive producers, and production is happening through The Pirates of the Caribbean director’s own production company, Jerry Bruckheimer Television with its studio being ABC Signature.
The National Treasure: Edge of History series also has an impressive slew of executive producers, with the first film’s director Jon Turteltaub, Jonathan Littman, KristieAnne Reed and Rick Muirragui, who is also set as a writer to the series, all added to the roster.
There haven’t been any updates to the National Treasure franchise since 2007, but as an iconic piece of film history, it’s exciting that it will finally be getting a new lease on life with a series through Disney+. Unfortunately, there is no official release date yet.
