CBS Studios has officially revived a gender-swapped adaptation of the classic sword-swinging vigilante Zorro. This is the third incarnation of the project, which is currently being worked on by Spy Kids director Robert Rodriguez, and co-writers Rebecca Rodriguez and John Hlavin.
The idea of a gender-swapped Zorro series was initially pitched in 2020 to NBC, with a script penned by television writer Alfredo Barrios Jr., before the CW took over the project in 2022 and scrapped it a year later. According to Deadline, the Rodriguez siblings are gearing up to write a new, original script for CBS’s version of the familiar masked vigilante. A contemporary adaptation, the story will follow a young Latina woman who discovers that her deceased father was once the illustrious avenger Zorro. In order to defend the citizens of her hometown in Austin, Texas from exploitation, she takes up her father’s mask and mantle to fight against the wealthy elite.
CBS is far from the only studio looking to bring Zorro back to the screen in a modern way. Disney+ is in the midst of developing a Zorro TV series, headed by That ’70s Show producer Wilmer Valderrama, which will combine the original Zorro‘s early twentieth-century setting with contemporary elements. Sleep Dealer director Alex Rivera is also set to write and direct Zorro 2.0, an ultra-modern take that reimagines Zorro as a hacker fighting against a high-tech conspiracy.
America’s First Superhero Returns Again — And Again, And Again.
Zorro remakes and adaptations seem to be all the rage today — despite the numerous failed incarnations of the CBS version — but what’s making them so popular? Ever since his debut in 1919 pulp fiction novels, Zorro’s pursuit of vigilante justice has captivated audiences, perhaps now more than ever. Modern portrayals of Zorro, for example, have added increasingly explicit socio-political themes to the story, with Rivera describing his high-tech adaptation as a way to connect Zorro “to today’s border wars, a conflict in which immigrant families are pitted against regimes of hi-tech surveillance and government control.” Meanwhile, CBS’s gender-swapped version will probably focus on economic disparities, given that wealthy citizens’ exploitation of their lower-class neighbors is the central conflict of the series.
With so much political strife in the real world, audiences are most likely in the market for feel-good stories where heroes emerge to stand up for their rights. Although CBS’s version of Zorro has experienced several delays — casting doubt on whether the project will actually come to fruition — there are plenty of other studios hoping to bring Zorro back to life, ensuring that the fan-favorite vigilante will surely make an appearance soon.