After nearly two decades of rumors, false starts and Nicolas Cage telling interviewers he would do it if anyone ever asked, National Treasure 3 is real. Director Jon Turteltaub confirmed it on August 22 during a live taping of the National Treasure Hunt podcast at the Philadelphia Visitor Center. There is a completed script, Disney has signed off on it, and Cage is set to return. Here is what has actually been confirmed and what is still open.
What Turteltaub Confirmed
The announcement came during Philadelphia’s inaugural National Treasure Weekend, a fan event built around the first film’s Independence Hall sequences. Turteltaub, who directed both the 2004 original and the 2007 sequel Book of Secrets, said the project has cleared the hurdle that killed every previous attempt: the script.
The confirmed details:
- The script is done and both Turteltaub and Disney are happy with it, which Turteltaub summarized as the studio agreeing it “sounds like a movie we can make”
- Nicolas Cage is returning as Benjamin Franklin Gates
- Jerry Bruckheimer, producer on both earlier films, has given the script his blessing
- The rest of the cast is being pursued, with Turteltaub saying that to whatever extent possible, everyone is back
What has not been announced is a production start, a release date, or formal confirmation from Disney itself. Turteltaub’s phrasing throughout was that of a director describing momentum rather than a greenlight with a date attached.
Why This Took 19 Years
Book of Secrets made $459 million worldwide in 2007 and a third film was announced almost immediately. It then sat in development limbo for the better part of two decades.
The obstacles were mostly structural. Disney’s priorities shifted hard toward Marvel, Star Wars and Pixar in the years after the acquisition spree, and a mid-budget adventure franchise built around a single star did not fit the release strategy. Screenwriters cycled through the project repeatedly without landing a version anyone was happy with. Cage’s own career took a detour through a long stretch of direct-to-video work that made him a harder sell to a studio betting nine figures on a family adventure.
Two things changed. Cage’s critical standing recovered substantially over the last several years, and Disney’s appetite for mid-budget four-quadrant films came back as the theatrical market stabilized. There was also a test run: the Disney+ series National Treasure: Edge of History ran for one season in 2022 with a new cast and was cancelled, which fairly clearly demonstrated that the audience was there for Cage specifically rather than the premise.
What Is Still Unknown
Almost everything past the script. No shooting date, no release window, no confirmation on which returning cast members have actually signed. Diane Kruger’s Abigail Chase and Justin Bartha’s Riley Poole are the two names fans will want confirmed, and neither has been announced.
The plot is also unknown, though the franchise’s pattern is straightforward enough. Both films built their treasure hunt around a real American historical artifact and a fictional secret hidden inside it. The Philadelphia venue for the announcement may or may not be a hint.
For now the safest read is that National Treasure 3 has moved from “perpetually rumored” to “actively in development,” which is a real change but is not the same as a production start.
National Treasure 3 has a script Disney likes, its original director, its original producer and its original star, which is more than the project has ever had at one time. What it does not have yet is a camera rolling. Watch for a formal Disney announcement with a release date, since that is the point at which this stops being a promising development and becomes a movie.
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