The world of the National Treasure franchise is officially expanding. Starting December 14, the first two episodes of National Treasure: Edge of History will be available to watch on Disney+. The streaming series was created for television by Cormac and Marianne Wibberley, and the crew includes several writers and producers from the original films. But while the 2004 movie had Nicolas Cage at the helm, Edge of History centers around a young female protagonist.
Lisette Olivera plays the starring role of Jess, a 22-year-old with a knack for solving puzzles and a dream to join the FBI. Unable to obtain American citizenship, Jess is forced to put her dream career on hold. However, her abilities, paired with her ambiguous family history, sweep Jesse and her friends into a ruthless race for a long-lost treasure. Zuri Reed plays Jess's best friend Tasha and has been featured in projects such as Applesauce and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Meanwhile, Lyndon Smith, who plays Agent Ross, is known for The Rookie, The Good Doctor, and Fear the Walking Dead.
Zuri Reed and Lyndon Smith chat with Screen Rant about their characters' backgrounds in Edge of History and share what skill they would find the most useful in a treasure hunt of their own.
Zuri Reed & Lyndon Smith Talk National Treasure: Edge of History
Screen Rant: What was your first impression of your characters when you read the script?
Zuri Reed: I thought Tasha was just this absolute bad*ss. She was so smart, yet always spoke her mind and was so sassy and full of personality, yet a literal tech genius. I had never seen something like that, and I was super excited to jump into it.
Lyndon Smith: I immediately loved almost the underdog position that Agent Ross has to start in on this series. She was top of her class at Quantico. She's brilliant. She made one mistake, and she gets kicked down from DC, down to the Baton Rouge office, and now she has to rebuild her entire professional career. On these first days, these people come in with this crazy story, and she's like, "Do I take this? Do I believe them or not?"
I just thought it was really interesting to see a character written where she's so intelligent, and she can see the facts, and she can connect all the dots, but she also understands people. She realizes that there's a lot of nuance going on. I think there's something about these girls that just sticks with her, and she has to become an ally, in the end. I just thought it was a very fleshed-out character, a very interesting layered character.
Let's say you're both going on this treasure hunt. If you could master any skill, which one do you think would be the most helpful?
Lyndon Smith: If I'm going on a treasure hunt with you, I want the skills you have in the show.
Zuri Reed: Yeah! I was trying to not say that, but yeah.
Lyndon Smith: You can be the brains, and I'll be the brawn. I'll kick some a*s and protect you.
Zuri Reed: There you go.
Lyndon Smith: I'll protect you from a snake in the jungle or something. And then you can figure it all out.
Zuri Reed: Yeah. And I'll figure out how to communicate with the helicopter.
Lyndon Smith: You can send out the SOS, and I'll beat up the bad guy.
Zuri Reed: And that's why we're a great team.
How different is this going to be from the original National Treasure franchise? Is the story just happening in the same universe?
Lyndon Smith: It's an expansion, but it's not a reboot. It's not a reimagining. We're just picking up 15–20 years down the line. All of those same characters that you know and love are there. We're just bringing in a young, modern, diverse group of people to kind of put this National Treasure world into modern day.
About National Treasure: Edge of History
Jess Valenzuela’s life is turned upside down when an enigmatic stranger gives her a clue to a centuries-old treasure that might be connected to her long-dead father. Jess has a knack for solving puzzles, and her skills are put to the test as she and her friends follow a series of clues hidden in American artifacts and landmarks. But can Jess outsmart a black-market antiquities dealer in a race to find history’s greatest lost treasure and unbury the truth about her family’s past?
Check out our other interviews with the National Treasure: Edge of History cast:
- Catherine Zeta-Jones
- Jerry Bruckheimer
- Lisette Olivera
- Jordan Rodrigues, Antonio Cipriano, & Jake Austin Walker
The National Treasure: Edge of History two-episode premiere begins streaming on December 14 on Disney+.