*** Local Caption *** Nicolas Cage;Diane Kruger
By Shawn Smith
Hints of a third installment in the NATIONAL TREASURE franchise have popped up ever since 2007’s NATIONAL TREASURE: THE BOOK OF SECRETS’ release, but recently producer Jerry Bruckheimer confirmed a screenplay for NT3 is in progress.
Bruckheimer revealed on the red carpet at the Producer’s Guild Awards that the sequel is in the works and is “coming along quite well.”
“We’re getting closer on that one,” he stated, sharing that Ted Elliot (PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN) would be tasked with the screenplay.
Related: NATIONAL TREASURE: THE BOOK OF SECRETS
The first NATIONAL TREASURE follows treasure hunter Benjamin Franklin Gates (Nicolas Cage) as he plans to steal the Declaration of Independence before a rival treasure hunter can. The adventure leads him across country to follow various clues in hopes to find treasure hidden by the Freemasons.
In NATIONAL TREASURE: THE BOOK OF SECRETS, Gates, along with archivist Abigail Chase and computer hacker Riley Poole, go on the search for a secret journal, handed down from US presidents that Gates believes will help clear his relative’s name as a conspirator to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.
The Disney+ series NATIONAL TREASURE: EDGE OF HISTORY (2022) didn’t see the same success as the movies (it was cancelled after one season), but Bruckheimer said that although the series “was completely different,” it kept “the name alive in the public eye [and] the zeitgeist.”
No major plot details of NT3 have been revealed yet, but Elliot revealed a character development of Gate’s sidekick Riley (Justin Bartha).
“Riley has changed more [than anybody else]…” Elliot said. “In the first one, he is the uninformed audience. […]That’s the role he plays. He’s the guy who says, ‘What are you talking about there?’ In the second one he’s written a book about cryptohistory.”
“It becomes more difficult to do the history exposition because[…] there are things [Riley] can know now,” he continued.
The lingering question is: will Nicolas Cage return as Ben Gates or not?
Earlier, Cage said in 2024 squashed the idea of another sequel, saying, “No, there is no NATIONAL TREASURE 3. If you want to find treasure, don’t look at Disney, okay? It’s not there.”
Seeing that Bruckheimer stated that the third movie would only proceed upon the FACE/OFF’s star’s script approval, the prospect sounds promising that we will find Cage once again deciphering the next clue and on the hunt for the next treasure.
Read Next: Producer Jerry Bruckheimer Encourages Fans to Not Rule Out NATIONAL TREASURE 3
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