Zorro returns for a TV adventure with a female lead

It’s time to return to the swashbuckling adventures of the masked vigilante calling himself Zorro in a new television series, only this time a female lead will brandish the sword for the CW project.

Created by filmmaker Robert Rodriguez with his sister Rebecca Rodriguez taking the helm as writer-director on the project, along with Sean Tetta and Ben Silverman, according to Deadline, the story will follow a young Latino woman seeking vengeance for her father’s murder. Her thirst for blood leads her to join a secret society where she adopts the outlaw persona of Zorro.

The vigilante has had several on-screen avatars over the years, with a dedicated TV show, followed by a series of films. Perhaps the most popular was the 1998 movie, ‘The Mask of Zorro’, which incidentally Robert Rodriguez was supposed to direct but was later helmed by Martin Campbell.

The movie featured Antonio Banderas as Zorro, with Catherine Zeta-Jones and Anthony Hopkins rounding up the A-lister cast. The success of the film made Zeta-Jones a household name and sparked a sequel in 2005 with ‘The Legend of Zorro’, which did not fare too well at the box office.

Both Robert and Rebecca have a string of television credits already to their name as they embark on this new adventure. While Robert serves as an executive producer-director on Disney+’s ‘The Book of Boba Fett’ and recently directed an episode of ‘The Mandalorian’, his sister Rebecca’s directing credits include episodes of HBO Max’s ‘Doom Patrol’, ‘Snowpiercer’ and several episodes of the ‘Queen of the South’.

A launch date for the Zorro TV series has yet to be announced.