Many of us spent our childhood years tracking down the fictional thieving villain known as
Carmen Sandiego across the world. But in Netflix’s upcoming animated series based on the beloved franchise, the streaming service is interested in answering another question: “Who is Carmen Sandiego?”
Premiering this month, Netflix’s animated educational series offers us a peek into Carmen Sandiego’s past, but also slightly reboots what we did know about the red-coated thief. The educational video game franchise originally painted Carmen Sandiego as the ringleader of the criminal organization, V.I.L.E., which players traveled the globe to track down. Netflix’s show, however, instead sets her up as a thief who only steals from other thieves in an effort to stop V.I.L.E.
A master thief who uses her skills for good, Carmen Sandiego travels the world foiling V.I.L.E.'s evil plans -- with help from her savvy sidekicks.
Carmen Sandiego will premiere on Netflix on January 18. Gina Rodriguez (
Jane The Virgin) will star as Carmen while Finn Wolfhard (
Stranger Things) portrays Player, a role usually assumed by the person who would play the game. As a reminder, Netflix is also planning a live-action adaptation of
Carmen Sandiego, which will see Gina Rodriguez return to the role.