Academy Award- and Tony Award-winning actress Catherine Zeta-Jones will play a leading series regular role in the upcoming Disney+ original series “National Treasure,” Disney+ announced Monday.
Details: Zeta-Jones will play the role of Billie, who is described as a “billionaire, black-market antiquities expert, and treasure hunter who lives by her own code.”
- “She transformed herself from a penniless orphan to a shrewd, stylish businesswoman and adventurer. Billie’s used to getting what she wants — and she wants the Pan-American treasure. But not just for the money. This treasure has deeper stakes for her,” Disney+ said in a release emailed to the Deseret News.
Our take: This sounds a lot like a villainous role for Zeta-Jones, who had competing interests with the story’s hero.
The bigger picture: The live-action “National Treasure” series is an expansion of the “National Treasure” movie franchise, which included two films, “National Treasure” and “National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets.”
- The new series will focus on a young heroine named Jess (Lisette Alexis), who looks to uncover the truth about her family’s mysterious past and save a lost Pan-American treasure, as I previously reported for the Deseret News.
- Jess has been described as “a brilliant and resourceful DREAMer.”
- This is different than the reported “National Treasure 3” project that appears to be in production.