The forthcoming live-action Carmen Sandiego film will delve into the titular character's backstory. The popular animated Carmen Sandiego series can be found on Netflix, where it already has two seasons on the streaming subscription platform, with a third to come in October. Also, it was announced in 2018 that actress Gina Rodriguez would star in a live-action Carmen Sandiego film, which would be housed on Netflix as well.
The Carmen Sandiego series follows the adventures of the eponymous character, who is also voiced by Rodriguez. Carmen Sandiego is a master thief, educated at the Isle of V.I.L.E. and supported by characters The Chief (Dawnn Lewis) and Player (Finn Wolfhard). That being said, a lot of Carmen's backstory is still a mystery, and fans hope that season 3 will address what became of the thief's parents.
Collider reports that the Carmen Sandiego movie will dive more into Carmen's backstory. In an interview with Rodriguez, the actress mentioned that she wanted to look further into the mysterious background of the thief that fans know and love. While she says that the cast and crew don't really "know much about" what's going to happen so far, she confirms that everyone will work together to create a "really solid story" that will befit such an iconic character. You can check out Rodriguez's full statement on the Carmen Sandiego movie below:
“Duane [Capizzi] who did the animation … is a brilliant man and did such a phenomenal job at creating this world because, I mean, I grew up with Carmen Sandiego and it was mostly the PBS game, and it was mostly the computer game, but you didn’t really know anything about her. So Duane created this entire incredibly intertwined beautiful story with backstory and all that, and so with the live-action, ideally, we would be able to create multiple films. But to bring in this first film, it is really imperative to us to create this iconic character that we loved, right? That we didn’t know much about and give her a really solid story that we all fall in love with. So that’s the unique challenge that we are working on, but I’m really excited and hopeful because it’s coming together great.”
Rodriguez also highlights that one thing she loves about the animated series is how the art and story bring alive a character that had long intrigued fans. She praises Duane Capizzi, Carmen Sandiego's executive producer, for helping to create the intricate world that Carmen inhabits. More specifically, Rodriguez notes that she'd mostly grown up with the character of Carmen Sandiego as a computer game on PBS; Capizzi's efforts to develop an entire backstory for Carmen is something Rodriguez finds extremely admirable. That being said, Rodriguez is most definitely not alone in this thinking, if Carmen Sandiego's high Netflix ratings and positive reviews are any indication.
The Carmen Sandiego franchise is one that has quite a bit of potential; from games to films to television shows, Carmen Sandiego has undoubtedly made her mark on the world. While part of the character's appeal is her shadowy past, the live-action film's exploration of Carmen's background will be welcome news for many fans. One thing's clear: with Gina Rodriguez at the helm of the upcoming Carmen Sandiego movie, the world's favorite master thief is in excellent hands.
Source: Collider