'Carmen Sandiego' Trailer: The World-Class Thief Gets The Animated Treatment Before A Live-Action Movie

If you're a child of the '80s or '90s, you probably remember Carmen Sandiego, the red trenchcoat-wearing, globe-trotting criminal who always seemed to be just out of our grasp in educational computer games from that era. Now the first Carmen Sandiego trailer has arrived for a new Netflix series, which has Gina Rodriguez (Jane the Virgin, Annihilation) lending her voice to the animated version of the character before she eventually plays her in a live-action movie for Netflix. Check out the trailer below.

This character has appeared in several pieces of media throughout the years, including the aforementioned games and a beloved TV series with a ridiculously catchy acapella theme song performed by Rockapella:

This new show seems to be diving into her backstory, painting her as a heroic character who started out as a student of V.I.L.E., the rival organization of the ACME Detective Agency, and tracks how she became a world-renowned international thief. It's a smart approach from Netflix for a character who was ostensibly a villain in her original incarnation; now young audiences are on her side as she tries to steal artifacts and valuables before her old V.I.L.E. cohorts do.

Rodriguez voices the title character, and Finn Wolfhard (Stranger Things, It) voices her pal Player. The animation style is cool, full of sharp lines and canted angles that remind me of shows like Samurai Jack. I'm also intrigued by the set-pieces, many of which look achievable in live-action; I wonder if we might see any of these big action moments recreated in the upcoming movie. Mark Perez, who wrote last year's excellent studio comedy Game Night, is tackling the movie script, so it'll be interesting to see the similarities between that project and the 20 episodes in this first season of the show.

Here's the synopsis:

Everybody asks "WHERE is Carmen Sandiego?", but nobody asks "WHO is Carmen Sandiego?" The iconic woman in red returns for new international capers and a peek into her past.

The first season of this animated take on Carmen Sandiego will be streaming on Netflix starting January 18, 2019.