Legendary masked crusader,Zorro, is returning to screens courtesy of director Robert Rodriguez and his sister,Doom PatrolandSnowpiercerdirector Rebecca Rodriguez, but with a twist. NBC is currently working on a TV series based on the swashbuckling hero, with the studio planning to giveZorroa contemporary spin, gender-swapping the character to create a female-led take on the classic myth.
TheZorroseries will center onSola Dominguez, “an underground artist who fights for social injustice as a contemporary version of the mythical Zorro. Her life is threatened by several criminal organizations after she exposes them.”
Zorrowill be co-produced by CBS Studios and Universal TV and will be part of a first-look deal between CBS and Propagate. The project will be co-written bySin CityandAlita: Battle AngeldirectorRobert Rodriguez, whose small screen ventures include the hit Disney+ seriesThe Mandalorianand the upcoming superhero seriesWe Can Be Heroes. Rodriguez is writingZorroalongside his sister Rebecca, with the sibling pair also on board as executive producers alongsideModern FamilystarSofia Vergaraas well as Ben Silverman, Rodney Ferrell, Greg Lipstone and Jay Weisleder for Propagate, Luis Balaguer for LatinWe, Geoff Clark, Eric Bromberg, and John Gertz.
The studio has been wanting to bring this updated take on [Zorro} for some time, with a project titledZalmost making it to screens. Written byMagnum PI’sAlfredo Barrios Jr., the script followed Z, a female descendant of the warrior bloodline who will go to great lengths to protect the defenceless in her community.
This is also far from the first time that Robert Rodriguez has been attached to the character ofZorro, with the director initially set to direct the 1998 movie adaptation ofThe Mask of Zorrostarring Antonio Banderas, Anthony Hopkins, and Catherine Zeta Jones. The movie charts the journey of the original Zorro, Don Diego de la Vega, who escapes from prison to find his long-lost daughter and avenge the death of his wife at the hands of the corrupt governor Rafael Montero. He is aided by his successor, Alejandro Murrieta, who is pursuing his own vendetta against the governor’s right-hand man, and ultimately takes up thesword-fighting mantle.
Rodriguez, in fact, was the one to cast Banderas in the titular role before departing the project.Casino Royale’sMartin Campbell went on to helm the highly praised adaptation instead.
Originally created in 1919 by American pulp writer Johnston McCulley,Zorrois typically depicted as a dashing, occasionally moustachioed, masked vigilante who defends the common folk and indigenous peoples of California against corrupt and tyrannical officials and other villains. His signature look is an all-black costume that includes a black cape, hat and domino mask, along with a razor-sharp rapier with which he despatches evil doers before leaving his signature, a ‘Z’, carved on whatever he fancies, often his defeated foes themselves. It’s essentially olden day graffiti that the hero leaves to sign his work. The character has since gone on to inspire several other prominent vigilantes, including DC iconBatman, withZorrooften being the movie that Bruce Wayne saw with his parents before they were gunned down.
Are you interested in what the Rodriguez siblings can bring to theZorrolore in this gender-swapped series? This comes to us fromDeadline.
