National Treasure: Using History as a Jumping-Off Point for Exciting New Adventures

TWM attended the official panel of National Treasure: Edge of History, and with that came new information about the show, our first look, and more.

The Panel Began with a brief 15 second teaser, which highlights two props from the original two movies — Ben Franklin’s Ocular Device and the Meerschaum Pipe from the first film. The other objects seen are a cube — an important new plot device — a map, and a shot of our protagonist, Jess (Lisette Olivera).

After that, the majority of the cast was introduced: Jake Austin Walker (Leo), Jordan Rodrigues (Ethan), Zuri Reed (Tasha), Antionio Cipriano (Oran), Linden Smith (FBI Agent Ross), and, lastly, Catherine Zeta-Jones (Billie) appearing via video.

(L-R) Zuri Reed, Antonio Cipriano, Linden Smith, Marianne Wibberley, Lisette Olivera, Cormac Wibberley, Jordan Rodrigues, & Jake Austin Walker. Photo via @DisneyPlus on Twitter

Zeta-Jones’ video appearance featured some behind-the-scenes footage, including some general information about the show. We learned that the series revolves around Jess, a 22-year-old dreamer who’s brilliantly filled with potential. When her mother gets cancer, she learns about a Pan-American treasure and jumps into the dangers of treasure hunting. The video also features the return of Riley Poole (Justin Bartha) to the National Treasure universe, as he describes the series to use American history as a jumping-off point for exciting treasure hunts.

National Treasure: Edge of History Key Art

After the video, we learned more about the supporting cast— Tasha runs a social media platform and uses her tech savviness to contribute to the group. Ethan is Jess’ childhood best friend and knows that, as Jess says, “When I start something, I can’t stop.” Oran has an entrepreneurial mindset and resells sneakers as a part-time hustle. Agent Ross has the unfortunate responsibility of dealing with these young treasure hunters during her first week on the job and will be led by Agent Sadusky (Harvey Keitel) who’s returning to the series as well. Finally, Catherine Zeta-Jones’ Billie is a black-market antiques expert and a history buff who finds herself in the middle of a cat-and-mouse situation with Jess. There will also be three boxes that will be required to find the treasure in some way.

We also learned that the show will have 10 episodes, has multiple references to the original films, and will possibly give us some insight into what’s on page 47 of the Book of Secrets.

National Treasure: Edge of History will be streaming on Disney+ hopefully later this year (no date announced during today’s panel). When TWM learns more, we’ll let you know.

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