After directing what many Star Wars fans are considering one of the best episodes of The Mandalorian this season, word on the street is that writer/director Robert Rodriguez is working with NBC to develop a new TV series based on the fictional masked vigilante Zorro.
Zorro was created in 1919 by American pulp writer Johnston McCulley. The character has appeared in countless mediums over the last century, including American, Mexican and European films, TV shows, literature, stage productions and radio dramas.
While the character has been portrayed by actors before like Antonio Banderas in the most recent film version (2005’s The Legend of Zorro) and Douglas Fairbanks in the silent-era original film in 1920 (The Mark of Zorro), the new Zorro will have a contemporary twist to the story with the casting of Colombian-American actress Sofia Vergara (TV’s Modern Family) in the title role.
According to Deadline, Robert Rodriguez and his sister Rebecca Rodriguez will co-write the series that features the character Sola Domingues, “an underground artist who fights for social justice.”
Vergara worked with Rodriguez in 2013 when she starred in the sequel Machete Kills as a brothel owner named Madame Desdemona. This would be Vergara’s first project of her career where she would receive top billing as the sole main character.
With Vergara in the lead role, fans online are wondering who should play opposite of her as the “mansel” (the male version of the “damsel” character who is usually Zorro’s love interest). Consensus seems to be that Vergara’s real-life husband Joe Manganiello would do just fine, although we’re not sure if someone that brawny could play “distressed.”