On Monday, Disney Branded Television and Disney+ announced they had cast Academy Award and Tony Award-winning actress Catherine Zeta-Jones in a lead series regular role in the Disney+ original series . The live-action series is a spinoff of the National Treasure film franchise, which thus far spans two Nicolas Cage-led films with a third in development. The Disney+ series follows a new young heroine named Jess (played by Lisette Alexis), described as “a brilliant and resourceful DREAMer who embarks on the adventure of a lifetime to uncover the truth about her family’s mysterious past and save a lost Pan-American treasure.”
Zeta-Jones will play Billie, described as “a badass 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.”
Videos by ComicBook.com
Zeta-Jones has won multiple awards for her work in film and theater. She won an Academy Award for her role as Velma Kelly in the film adaptation of Chicago. The same performance earned her a Golden Globe nomination, the Critics’ Choice Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, and the BAFTA Award for Best Supporting Actress. She won the Tony Award for Lead Actress in a Musical for Broadway debut as Desirée Armfeldt in Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music.
Zeta-Jones’ other roles include Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s 12, Side Effects, and Traffic, which earned a Golden Globe nomination for portraying a drug runner’s wife. She also starred in Steven Spielberg’s The Terminal, opposite Tom Hanks, and in the Coen Brothers’ Intolerable Cruelty, opposite George Clooney. More recently, she starred in the telefilm Cocaine Godmother, based on the true story of notorious drug lord Griselda Blanco.
Her breakout role was in the film The Mask of Zorro, opposite Antonio Banderas and Anthony Hopkins. She followed that with Entrapment, performing opposite Sean Connery.
Disney+’s Zuri Reed (Flatbush Misdemeanors) as Tasha, Jordan Rodrigues (Lady Bird) as Ethan, Antonio Cipriano (Jagged Little Pill on Broadway) as Ethan, and Jake Austin Walker (Rectify) as Liam. These are Jess’ friends whom she recruits to help uncover the truth about her parents and their connection to the treasure. Lyndon Smith (Parenthood) plays FBI Agent Ross, who assists them in their search.
Jerry Bruckheimer, Cormac & Marianne Wibberley, Jonathan Littman, and KristieAnne Reed are executive producers, with Rick Muirragui, who also writes. Jon Turteltaub is also an executive producer. Mira Nair is directing and executive producing.
ABC Signature produces National Treasure. Production begins this month in Baton Rouge.
