After Netflix’s We Can Be Heroes, Is Spy Kids Getting A Reboot With Robert Rodriguez?

Carla Gugino, Alexa PenaVega, Daryl Sabara, Antonio Banderas, Danny Trejo in Spy Kids
(Image credit: (Dimension Films))

Cue the Floop theme song and call in the Thumb Thumbs, because Spy Kids is coming back! Dusk Till Dawn filmmaker Robert Rodriguez is returning to his explosive family franchise after his recent success with Netflix, having continued his Sharkboy and Lavagirl story with We Can Be Heroes, which recently racked up huge viewership numbers on the streaming site.

Robert Rodriguez is reportedly teaming up with Skydance Media to reboot the Spy Kids by tasking himself to write and direct an upcoming film that will focus on a “multicultural family,” per Deadline. The Spy Kids were first introduced 20 years ago when the 2001 film had Antonio Banderas and Carla Gugino playing a retired pair of spies who get sucked back into danger, leading their two kids, Carmen and Juni, to come to the rescue.

The Spy Kids movies spawned three sequels, with the most recent film replacing the Cortez family and spotlighting Jessica Alba and Joel McHale as the parents to new spy children. We’d imagine his return to the franchise would follow somewhat of the same formula, but there has to be some new spark he has in mind to reimagine the franchise.

Now, my first choice would be to see Antonio Banderas, Carla Gugino, Danny Trejo, Alan Cumming, Tony Shalhoub, Cheech Marin and the now grown-up kids Alexa PenaVega and Daryl Sabara back as Carmen and Juni, but chances are this will turn the focus on a new family we have yet to meet. I do feel inclined to dream my dream since We Can Be Heroes saw the return of Taylor Dooley suited back up as Lavagirl after all these years, whilst Taylor Lautner’s Sharkboy sat the follow-up out, much to fans’ disappointment.

Robert Rodriguez is seriously keeping himself busy as of late, considering he just signed up for a We Can Be Heroes sequel and is working with Disney+ to executive produce the upcoming series The Book of Boba Fett after working on The Mandalorian Season 2. With We Can Be Heroes 2 in the works, I’m inclined to humor the idea of Rodriguez making his own universe that could perhaps connect his superhero movies to his spy world.

A lot of the aesthetics between the two complement each other, and it just sounds like a fun way for Robert Rodriguez to play around with his two family-friendly worlds. Skydance Media is also a frequent collaborator with Netflix, previously distributing The Old Guard and 6 Underground on the platform, so Spy Kids could be a streaming release too depending on how things shake out.

What do you think? Are you interested in another Spy Kids movie? Sound off in the poll below. It’s great to see the visionary filmmaker get a lot of work; maybe Alita 2 will be next, eh?

Sarah El-Mahmoud
Staff Writer

Sarah El-Mahmoud has been with CinemaBlend since 2018 after graduating from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in Journalism. In college, she was the Managing Editor of the award-winning college paper, The Daily Titan, where she specialized in writing/editing long-form features, profiles and arts & entertainment coverage, including her first run-in with movie reporting, with a phone interview with Guillermo del Toro for Best Picture winner, The Shape of Water. Now she's into covering YA television and movies, and plenty of horror. Word webslinger. All her writing should be read in Sarah Connor’s Terminator 2 voice over.