Renowned filmmaker Robert Rodriguez is open to the idea of reuniting original Spy Kids stars Alexa PenaVega and Daryl Sabara for another film within the beloved franchise. However, he emphasized that the significant gap between the latest installment, “Armageddon,” and 2011’s “Spy Kids 4: All the Time in the World” made it essential to “start the franchise fresh.”
In an interview with Yahoo Entertainment, Rodriguez elaborated on his decision to introduce a completely new family and a fresh set of child stars in the latest Spy Kids chapter, featured on Netflix.
“I wanted to re-establish a new family,” Rodriguez explained. He highlighted that the substantial time lapse since “All the Time in the World” necessitated a fresh beginning for the franchise before potentially exploring familiar characters and storylines.
“Spy Kids 4: All the Time in the World” featured PenaVega and Sabara alongside a star-studded cast that included Jessica Alba, Joel McHale, Rowan Blanchard, Mason Cook, Ricky Gervais, and Jeremy Piven. Alba portrayed an Organization of Super Spies agent married to McHale’s spy-hunting reporter. PenaVega and Sabara played the niece and nephew of Alba’s secret agent, with her stepchildren (Blanchard and Cook) confronting a villain threatening to unleash a time weapon known as Project: Armageddon.
While Rodriguez is enthusiastic about expanding the Spy Kids universe with a new family, he hasn’t ruled out the possibility of bringing back the franchise’s original leads.
“I would love to bring back [characters], I would love to connect the worlds,” he expressed. “That would be so fun. It could still be in the same world, so if we get to make more films, there easily could be legacy characters that come back.”
During the interview, Rodriguez also highlighted the significance of releasing another Spy Kids sequel in Hollywood’s current storytelling landscape. He acknowledged the challenges of producing movies in Hollywood that aren’t based on preexisting material owned by studios.
“It’s hard to make movies in Hollywood that aren’t [based on] preexisting material that a studio owns,” Rodriguez remarked. “So when you can come up with your own story and make sequels to it, man, you’re going to make as many of those as you can because it’s a rarity.”
The original “Spy Kids,” released in 2001, featured Antonio Banderas and Carla Gugino as two spies who, after being kidnapped, are rescued by their children, portrayed by PenaVega and Sabara. Since then, the franchise has seen the release of four additional films, including “Armageddon,” as well as an animated series titled “Spy Kids: Mission Critical.”
