It’s been sixteen years since we last saw Zorro in live-action, when Martin Campbell reunited with Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones to deliver a subpar sequel to the gloriously entertaining 1998 swashbuckler.
That hasn’t been for a lack of trying, though, with countless reinventions of the iconic character having been touted in the interim. Gael García Bernal was once attached to headline Jonás Cuarón’s near-future Z, while Robert Rodriguez and Sofa Vergara are developing an episodic series for NBC.
However, Deadline has announced that a feature film reboot is in the works, with Alex Rivera set to write and direct Zorro 2.0. The logline provided is unlikely to generate much fervor from the fanbase, after it was revealed that the title hero will be young, undocumented hacker Oscar de la Vega, who goes by the handle of… z0rr0.
Caught up in a conspiracy that threatens both his family and the world at large, the masked man is also forced to deal with a shady government unit that attacked his mother in a story set to incorporate border control and surveillance to reflect the times we live in.
Zorro 2.0 is set to reimagine that pulp classic as a high concept and sociopolitically prescient cyberpunk action thriller with sci-fi elements, which is an interesting approach to say the least, but we’re curious to see how it’s all going to shake out.