Jonás Cuarón (Desierto) has been tapped to write and direct the new reboot of the Zorro franchise, Z.

This incarnation of the masked avenger is set in near-future, whereas a previous script saw the story set in a post-apocalyptic world under the title Zorro Reborn.  It will be interesting to see how Cuarón brings the character to contemporary times. The character was originally a robin hood-esque character in 1900’s Spain who fought a corrupt government in the name of the common people. The character made his debut in pulp novels and later in films and television.

This marks Cuarón’s second directorial effort in an English-speaking film. Most recently, he directed the immigration drama Desierto starring Gael García Bernal (Amazon’s Mozart in the Jungle) and Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Heist). He also co-wrote Gravity with his father, Alfonso Cuarón.

No casting has been announced for the film at this time. The last actor to play the masked avenger was Antonio Banderas in 1998’s  The Mask of Zorro, and 2005’s The Legend of Zorro. In The Mask of Zorro, Anthony Hopkins (Thor: Ragnarok) played the original Zorro who trained Banderas’ character.

We’ll have more on the project as it develops.