Picture this: it’s the early 2000s. Frosted lip gloss is in, as are trucker hats and all denim everything. It was also a massive time for films from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone to Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and even Shrek. Every Millennial or Gen Z kid wanted Heelys or the new Xbox and was undoubtedly obsessed with the kid-friendly espionage flick that had taken over. What film would that be? None other than Robert Rodriguez’s iconic Spy Kids.

The franchise was one of the more successful franchises that had a Latin family at the forefront. But that almost wasn’t the case. Robert Rodriguez revealed to fans at a ComicCon@Home panel in 2020 that there was significant pushback when he wanted the family to be of Latin descent. He stated that “it was a big victory to have the kids in Spy Kids be [from] a Latin family.” The studio had questioned the need for the family to be anything but American, to which Rodriguez responded, “They are American, they’re based on my family.” The filmmaker was referring to the inspiration for the film, which came from his Uncle Gregorio Rodriguez, who was an FBI agent for many years. Rodriguez has always been an advocate for introducing more Latin roles into film, and this franchise was no different- “You don’t have to be British to enjoy James Bond. By being more specific, you’re being more universal.”

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Now that Netflix and Rodriguez are working on a reboot of the Spy Kids series, we look back at the franchise and what’s to come.

The Original Franchise

     Spyglass Films

The killer franchise of four films blew away young minds and quickly became a cult classic. It consisted of an original trio with a fourth, subsequent film being introduced more recently. The first three films showcased the Cortez family with Daryl Sabara as Juni, Alexa PenaVega as his older sister Carmen and their parents, Ingrid and Gregorio, played by Carla Gugino and Antonio Banderas. Sabara and PenaVega were the only original cast members that returned in the fourth film.

The first film, which debuted in 2001, grossed $147 million, making it a big success as far as kids’ movies go. The first film follows the Latin siblings Juni and Carmen Cortez. They discover their parents are secret agents that have been captured by an evil mastermind who disguises himself as a kid’s television host. Together, they become kid agents and set out to save their parents with the help of some fantastic characters, including their Uncle Machete, played, of course, by Danny Trejo.

The second film, Spy Kids: The Island of Lost Dreams, follows Juni and Carmen as they navigate their fall from grace as the agency’s top kid agents. They set out on a mission to prove themselves, competing against the new top-duo-sibling-agents. Juni and Carmen find themselves on an island full of mutated animals and strange locations that are almost dream-like. With the help of the held-hostage mad scientist, played by Steve Buscemi, they succeed in the mission and save the world once again.

The final film of the original trilogy, Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over, showcased more of the younger Cortez as he is led into virtual reality in search of his missing sister and is joined by a band of other players. This film kept up with the random cameo theme common in Rodriguez’s films, with Silverstein Stallone as the film’s villain. Stallone is a crazed game creator who traps players in the virtual world. This film completed the Cortez-family story arch in 2003.

The 2011 film Spy Kids: All the Time in the World was a stand-alone sequel to the franchise’s original trio. The film was the only one in the franchise not to include Banderas or Gugino or distributed by Miramax Films. The film follows a retired agent, played by Jessica Alba, as she is called back into the field. She is forced to take her new step-children and infant along for the ride. Along with her husband, played by Joel McHale, the family works together to fight against an evil time lord who is, you guessed it, trying to take over the world. The film did not do as spectacularly as its predecessors, only grossing $85 million worldwide with a budget of $27 million.

The Upcoming Reboot

Netflix announced that Robert Rodriguez would indeed be writing and directing the reboot of the popular kids’ franchise. This will be his second family feature in partnership with Netflix, the first being We Can Be Heroes, which was a follow-up to his 2005 film Sharkboy and Lavagirl. Spyglass Media, who owns the Spy Kids franchise, will remain on board for the reboot. They will be joined by producers Elizabeth Avellan and Racer Max. The studio’s own Gary Barber and Peter Oillataguerre will executive produce the film. There is not much else known about the reboot film beyond that.

Netflix did release a snippet saying that the new film will follow and introduce a new family of spies. Fans have already begun to speculate that this could mean that the film will follow PenaVega and Sabara’s characters’ families as they are thrust into the spy world as they once were in the original movie. However, it has also not been confirmed if any of the original cast will return in the new venture.