Disney+ is taking on the National Treasure franchise, and while it already landed a pretty big star in Catherine Zeta-Jones, another notable actor just joined the fold. The streamer announced that an original cast member from the popular Nicolas Cage movies will reprise the role, and while it’s not Cage, it is one to be excited about. Disney+ subscribers can look forward to Justin Bartha appearing in the upcoming National Treasure series.
Justin Bartha will reprise Riley Poole in Disney+'s National Treasure series. For the time being, Bartha is described as a “guest star” in the show, which usually means a limited appearance. Even so, fans of the movie franchise will be excited to hear there’s a character that exists between the films and the upcoming television series of the same name. After all, Bartha’s role means that Nicolas Cage could one day appear in the series, and people tend to get excited about seeing Cage bring his energy (which he never phones in) to any project.
If having Nicolas Cage appear as Benjamin Franklin Gates isn’t going to happen in the National Treasure Disney+ series, it’s fair to say Justin Bartha’s Riley Poole is a decent consolation prize. Gates' best friend and sidekick was plenty handy in the two National Treasure movies (both solid options amongst many great Disney+ movies), and he could undoubtedly be of use to anyone needing to solve a mystery.
Disney+’s National Treasure series centers on a girl named Jess who embarks on a journey to uncover a Pan-American treasure. During the journey, she’ll also look to uncover secrets regarding her family’s past, all of which Justin Bartha’s Riley Poole might be helpful with figuring out. As mentioned, though, Bartha only listed as a guest star, so it remains to be seen how involved he’ll be in the overall story.
Besides, Jess won’t be traveling alone, as her friends Tasha, Jordan, Ethan, Oren and Liam will be helping her throughout her journey. With a supporting cast of characters that deep, a character like Riley Poole could step on any one of the strengths Jess’ friends bring to the team, which would explain why his role is limited. That’s assuming his role is actually limited, so we’ll just have to wait and see what details emerge in the coming months about this exciting project.
The National Treasure series in development for Disney+, and anyone with a subscription can stream the National Treasure movies on there as well. Hopefully the series delivers on the level of action and fun of the films and scratches the itch that fans have wanted for so long in the form of the third National Treasure movie. For those wondering what happened there, Nicolas Cage got candid back in March about why National Treasure 3 never happened.
