Carmen Sandiego is coming back to television in a brand new animated series on Netflix!
Netflix has been on a roll recently, rebooting fan favorite television series from the past, but lately they seem to be taking a shine to educational shows of the 90’s. First it was the announcement for its upcoming reboot of The Magic School Bus, and this month the company dropped Bill Nye Saves the World, a brand new series from most every 90’s kid’s favorite science guy. (Unless you’re a weirdo like me, and you watched Beakman’s World.) Now Netflix is back at it again with the announcement of working on a brand new series based on everyone’s favorite crimson cat burglar, Carmen Sandiego!
The Carmen Sandiego franchise began as a geography-based learning game in 1985, called Where in the World is Carmen Sandiegio? The game revolved around the titular character stealing some sort of priceless artifact, and you as the detective were tasked with the job of tracking her down and bringing her and her henchmen to justice. The game was a massive success and spun off in dozens of different directions including more video games, a PBS game show, and an animated series called Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego?
Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego? will likely be the inspiration for the new Netflix Original. The other titles in the franchise were not known for their plots; everything else was more about the gameplay and learning. I was obsessed with the PBS game show as a kid, but it did not have much in the way of a narrative, and while the games were fun, it was basically the same plot over and over with different locations and objects.
A release date for the new series has yet to be set, but we do know that it was given a 20-episode order, which is more than most Netflix Originals receive. In addition to the number of episodes, we also know who will be playing that part of Carmen herself, as Netflix recently announced that Jane the Virgin star Gina Rodriguez will be taking up the iconic role.
Rodriguez has not had much experience in the world of voice acting yet, but she will be heard in two upcoming animated films where she has roles in Blue Sky’s Ferdinand as well as Sony’s The Star. In addition to Rodriguez, Finn Wolfhard of Stranger Things fame was also announced as her costar in the role of ‘The Player.’
What are your thoughts about this news? Did you ever watch/play Carmen Sandiego growing up? Are you excited for this new series?
Edited by: Kelly Conley
