Zorro Director Wants to Make a Third Movie With Antonio Banderas (Exclusive)

Martin Campbell left his mark on Zorro. 1998’s The Mask of Zorro saw the swashbuckling mantle pass from nobleman Don Diego de la Vega (Anthony Hopkins) to his protégé — the revenge-seeking Alejandro Murieta (Antonio Banderas) — as the new Zorro who woos the sword-wielding senorita Elena (Catherine Zeta-Jones). “Zorro was a servant of the people. He did what was needed,” Don Diego at one point tells his would-be successor Alejandro, who replies: “Now he’s needed again.”

20 years after Banderas donned the mask once more in 2005’s The Legend of Zorro, also directed by Campbell, the filmmaker tells ComicBook that he would direct a third film — if Banderas’ masked swordsman is needed once again.

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“Absolutely. He’s terrific,” Campbell said in an interview pegged to his new action thriller, the Daisy Ridley starring Cleaner (Feb. 21). “He was fantastic to work with. I did do a sequel of it, which wasn’t quite successful, but then I thought he did some terrific stuff on that.”

Campbell continued, “He was terrific, absolutely. Where he becomes the Anthony Hopkins character right away, he’d bring in a new Zorro. It’s a perfect circle, really, isn’t it?”

Banderas, 64, previously told ComicBook he would don the Anthony Hopkins role to pass the mantle of Zorro to a new actor in a potential third film.

“Yes, I would. I would consider that possibility, why not?” Banderas said. “If they called me to do Zorro, I would do what Anthony Hopkins did for me, which is to pass the torch.”

And which actor would Banderas want to wear the mask of Zorro? His Uncharted co-star Tom Holland, who currently stars as another masked icon in the MCU Spider-Man movies. “I did Uncharted with him, and he’s so energetic and fun, and he’s got this spark too,” he said.

1998’s Zorro reboot, which was executive produced by Steven Spielberg via his Amblin Entertainment, slashed its way to $250 million at the worldwide box office. Legend of Zorro fared worse with critics and audiences alike, earning $142 million, while Campbell would go on to reboot yet another iconic character: James Bond in 2006’s Casino Royale.

In Cleaner, a group of radical activists take over an energy company’s annual gala, seizing 300 hostages in order to expose the corruption of the hosts. Their just cause is hijacked by an extremist within their ranks, who is ready to murder everyone in the building to send his anarchic message to the world. It falls to an ex-soldier turned window cleaner, Joey Locke (Star Wars‘ Daisy Ridley), suspended 50 stories up on the outside of the building, to save those trapped inside, including her younger brother. Cleaner is in theaters Feb. 21.