US TV network The CW are revitalising a classic action icon by changing the gender of the masked vigilante.
A gender-swapped 'Zorro' series is currently being whipped into shape by a trio of impressive creators for The CW.
Deadline reports that Robert Rodriguez, his sibling Rebecca Rodriguez and Sean Tretta are all lined up to breathe new life into a character that has been around for over 100 years.
A Mexican character originally created by Johnston McCulley in 1919 for his novel 'The Curse of Capistrano', the masked vigilante became popular enough to spawn television series, films, merchandise, comic books and even video games based around the character. Douglas Fairbanks was the first actor to portray Zorro in a theatrical film in 1920's 'The Mark of Zorro'.
The most recent live-action iteration of the character on screen was Antonio Banderas' interpretation of the character seen in 'The Mask of Zorro' and 'The Legend of Zorro' alongside Catherine Zeta-Jones. Interestingly, Robert Rodriguez was originally attached to direct 'The Mask of Zorro' in 1998, even casting Banderas in the title role, before leaving the project.
This new version will feature a gender-swapped Zorro character, who is: "A young Latinx woman seeking vengeance for her father’s murder who joins a secret society and adopts the outlaw persona of Zorro." No actors are attached to the project yet.
Robert Rodriguez has directed movies from the gritty ('Sin City'), to the more family-friendly ('Sky Kids'), while his sister Rebecca Rodriguez is known for Netflix's 'Snowpiercer' and DC Comics' 'Doom Patrol'. Sean Tretta, who will be the series showrunner, has previously featured as a writer on Amazon Prime's 'Hunters'. All three are attached as writers, while the Rodriguez siblings will both be executive producers, Rebecca Rodriguez will direct.
With Zorro being such a beloved character to fans across the world, hopefully this impressive team behind the project will do the character justice. If the past has taught us anything, however, gender-swapped roles normally don't fare too well with audiences. Netflix's 'Cursed' was cancelled after just one season, a Katherine Langford-led alternative Arthurian tale; while both 'Ocean's 8' and the female-led 'Ghostbusters' movies both failed to live up to expectation.
