Potential plot and characters details have been revealed for Z, the upcoming Zorro movie reboot from writer turned writer/director Jonás Cuarón. There have been various attempts to bring the people’s hero Zorro back to the big screen since his last appearance in 2005’s The Legend of Zorro (the sequel to 1998’s The Mask of Zorro), but Z is the only one still standing at this point. Z has been slowly but steadily moving forward for two years now, starting with Cuarón signing on and then Gael García Bernal becoming attached to star – having previously been set to lead the now abandoned reboot, Zorro Reborn.
Z, similar to Zorro Reborn, takes place in the future and pits the eponymous masked sword-wielder against a more contemporary threat: corporate corruption. It’s long been assumed that Z would be positioned as the beginning of a prospective franchise, as most Hollywood IP reboots are nowadays. However, based on the latest update for the project, it seems that Z‘s female lead Kiersey Clemons might be the one who carries the torch forward from here, not Bernal.
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The Hashtag Show is reporting that Z takes place in the not distant future, and pits its heroes against a duplicitous corporation that’s known as M-Corp. The site further reports that Bernal’s character is named Emiliano Garza and is described as being a “veteran adventurer” who, it seems, will serve as something of a mentor to Clemons’ character. The latter is described as being a teenager of Haitian descent who calls herself “Zee” – in honor of the hero Zorro whom she grew up idolizing – and is eager and willing to take up Zorro’s cause against M-Corp.
As Hashtag Show notes, the implication is that Zorro will be a title passed down from one person to another in Z, similar to the premise for Mask of Zorro. Similarly, it appears that Bernal will not be the first Zorro – having taken on the identity from his teacher – and will attempt to pass what he has learned unto “Zee”, setting the stage for her to become the next Zorro. The site’s source further confirms that “Zee” has essentially as much screentime as Emiliano, suggesting that the film could pave the way to Clemons either co-headlining future installments in the Zorro series with Bernal or even starring on her own.
With even theaters calling for “more diversity” in studio movies, setting the stage for a woman of color to lead the Zorro films going forward sounds like a promising approach – if that is the intent with Z. Cuarón showed a knack for combining genre thrills and social commentary with his directorial debut, Desierto, and for crafting multi-faceted female characters with his Gravity script work, so Z should play to his strengths as a storyteller regardless of what he has in mind.
As for Clemons: her future has been looking bright since she broke-out three years ago with the Indie flick Dope. Assuming that everything works out as reported, she will soon have two major franchises under her belt – thanks to her involvement with Z and her role as Iris West in the DC cinematic universe’s Flashpoint movie (which Clemons is supposedly still attached to).
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We will bring you more information on Z when we have it.
