National Treasure 3 screenwriter on the project’s status, characters, and treasure hunt

Seventeen years after we last followed historian, cryptographer, and treasure hunter Benjamin Franklin Gates (played by Nicolas Cage) on an adventure, we might finally be getting a new sequel to the 2004 film National Treasure and its 2007 follow-up National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets. Although producer Jerry Bruckheimer said two years ago that there was a “really good” script in place and awaiting Cage’s approval, it must not have met his approval, because screenwriter Ted Elliott revealed to the National Treasure Hunt podcast that he has been working on the project for the last year and recently completed his first draft of the script.

During his interview on the podcast, Elliott confirmed that his script is complete and ready for revisions and teased that he has written “familiar faces” into the story beyond the returning main characters of Ben Gates, computer expert and author Riley Poole (Justin Bartha), Dr. Abigail Chase (Diane Kruger), and Ben’s parents Patrick Henry Gates (Jon Voight) and Dr. Emily Appleton-Gates (Helen Mirren). He also mentioned that the dynamic between Ben and Riley will have changed by the time we catch up with them in this story. The short-lived TV series National Treasure: Edge of History is also being treated as canon, so FBI Special Agent Peter Sadusky, who was played by Harvey Keitel in the first two films, is now dead.

Elliott promised that the heist at the center of National Treasure 3 will be “weirdest ever,” surpassing the stealing of the Declaration of Independence and kidnapping the President in previous stories, and that no one online has correctly guessed what the treasure is in this story. He also said that Ben and his cohorts might be facing off with multiple antagonists in this one.

Directed by Jon Turteltaub from a screenplay crafted by Jim Kouf, Cormac Wibberley, Marianne Wibberley, Oren Aviv, and Charles Segars, the first National Treasure had the following synopsis: Historian and code-breaker Ben Gates has been searching his whole life for a rumored treasure dating back to the creation of the United States. Joining an expedition led by fellow treasure hunter Ian Howe (Sean Bean), Gates finds an ice-locked Colonial ship in the Arctic Circle that contains a clue linking the treasure to the Declaration of Independence. But when Howe betrays him, Gates has to race to get to the document ahead of his so-called colleague.

Turteltaub returned to the helm for National Treasure: Book of Secrets, and that time the script was assembled by Gregory Poirier, Cormac Wibberley, Marianne Wibberley, Ted Elliott, and Terry Rossio. The synopsis: When a treasure hunter learns about one of his ancestors’ involvement in the death of former US President Abraham Lincoln, he travels around the world to investigate the matter and prove him innocent.

Turteltaub is expected to direct National Treasure 3 as well, and while Cage has said in the past that he’s not interested in the project, the director told the National Treasure Hunt podcast a few months ago that the sequel is “100% going ahead with the original cast.”

Are you looking forward to National Treasure 3? What do you think of the information Ted Elliott revealed about the script? Let us know by leaving a comment below.