Robert Rodriguez has been in the filmmaking for over three decades, and after delivering adult-geared like Desperado and From Dusk till Dawn, the filmmaker delved into family-friendly territory for the first time with Spy Kids. The 2001 movie spawned three sequels released in 2002, 2003 and 2011 respectively, and now Rodriguez is returning to reboot/relaunch the franchise. The fifth Spy Kids movie is heading to Netflix, and the first adult stars have come aboard, one of whom you’ll recognize from his heroics in the DC Extended Universe.
Zachary Levi and Gina Rodriguez have been tapped for the next Spy Kids movie, as have young actors Everly Carganilla and Connor Esterson. While no details were provided on any of these four actors’ characters, it’s probably a safe bet that Levi and Rodriguez are playing the parents of Carganilla and Esterson’s characters. Deadline also mentioned in its report that the Spy Kids reboot will see the children of the world’s greatest secret agents unwittingly help a video game developer unleash a computer virus that lets him take control of all technology. The kids will need to become spies themselves so they can save their parents and the world.
While Zachary Levi rose to stardom for leading NBC’s Chuck from 2007-2012, in recent years, he’s left his mark as the superhero genre as Shazam, i.e. the adult superhero form of Asher Angel’s Billy Batson. The first Shazam! movie hit theaters in April 2019, and Levi is reprising the World’s Mightiest Mortal later this year in Shazam! Fury of the Gods. Turning to Gina Rodriguez, she’s arguably best known for playing Jane Villanueva in The CW series Jane the Virgin, and more recently she starred as the adult Elena Cañero-Reed in the short-lived Disney+ series Diary of a Future President. Everly Carganilla is recognizable from TV shows like The Chair and The Afterparty, and Connor Esterson is a newcomer to the professional acting scene.
Robert Rodriguez revealed back in January 2021 that he was striking up a deal with Skydance to make a new Spy Kids movie that would focus on a “multicultural family.” A little over a year later, the project was confirmed to be moving forward, though unlike the previous four Spy Kids movies, you’ll need a Netflix subscription to check it out. This will be Rodriguez’s second family-centric movie for Netflix following 2020’s We Can Be Heroes, the follow-up to 2005’s The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl. We Can Be Heroes has its own sequel on the way, but there hasn’t been any major updates on its progress.
It is worth noting that Netflix has already dabbled in exclusive Spy Kids content with the animated series Spy Kids: Mission Critical, but it’s safe to say that Robert Rodriguez’s upcoming movie will grab more attention. We’ll pass along more casting news and other updates on how the Spy Kids reboot is coming along, but you can keep yourself entertained in the meantime seeing what Netflix movies available to watch now catch your eye.
