The truth is buried with the treasure…
National Treasure: Edge of History is an action-adventure series created by Cormac and Marianne Wibberley. It is a continuation of the National Treasure films and stars Lisette Olivera, Lyndon Smith, Zuri Reed, Jake Austin Walker, Antonio Cipriano, Jordan Rodrigues, and Catherine Zeta-Jones.
The series follows Jess, a young Dreamer who discovers her family history has ties to a lost Pan-American treasure. With the help of her friends, she races against time to retrieve it and solve the mysteries of the past — including her own. Justin Bartha and Harvey Keitel also return as Riley Poole and Peter Sadusky, respectively.
The series premiered on Disney+ on December 14, 2022. On April 21, 2023, it was announced that the show had been cancelled after one season.
Preview: Teaser
, Featurette, Trailer
National Treasure: Edge of History includes examples of:
- Advertising by Association: The trailer confirms the involvement of original film producer Jerry Bruckheimer.
- Amicable Exes: Tasha and Oren are still close friends despite breaking up, though that might be because they've been in a Relationship Revolving Door for forever. Turns out the break up is temporary.
- Ancient Order of Protectors: The Daughters of the Plumed Serpent, who have been protecting a hidden collection of Mesoamerican treasure since the Spanish conquests.
- Arc Words: "Cras Est Nostrum" is the Pretentious Latin Motto of the mysterious organization that Billie works for. Liam later finds a book with the words written on them in his grandfather's old mail, which contains a cipher that explains the organization to the group.
- Babies Ever After: Subverted. After getting together, finding a huge treasure, breaking up, finding another huge treasure and getting back together for good, Ben and Abigail have since become dog parents.
- Back for the Dead: Harvey Keitel returns as a retired Peter Sadusky but dies offscreen in the first episode.
- Bait-and-Switch: In episode 4, Riley reveals that Ben and Abigail have added a "Charlotte" to their family. In the final scene it's revealed that Charlotte is not a child, but rather a German Shepherd puppy.
- Bat Deduction: Returns in true National Treasure fashion. Jess deduces the combination of a conquistador-era lock box through a series of steps that include the Briar Patch (whose first recorded use was in the 18th century).
- Birds of a Feather:
- Jess and Ethan early in the series are incredible at working together to solve puzzles, as shown in the Escape Room scene.
- Jess and Liam are also often on the same wavelength when trying to work out clues to the treasure.
- Agent Ross and Dr. Hudson, on one lunch date, decide to simultaneously ditch so they can look for more clues at Sadusky's house.
- Black-Tie Infiltration: The crew infiltrates a party at the Governor's Mansion so they can see Meriwether Lewis' journal, which is only let out for special occasions.
- Blinded by the Light: Rafael's prison escape consists of a two-man effort in which one person cuts the fence open while the other shines a mirror in the eyes of a sniper.
- Bluff the Impostor: A "bluff the liar" variation: Jess suspects that Billie is lying to her about having been friends with her parents, so she makes a casual mention of her mother's love for the Mexican soccer team. When Billie affirms this, that clinches it: If Billie had really known Jess's mother, she'd have known about her distaste for soccer.
- Bookcase Passage: Sadusky has one in his home, accessed by pressing two books on the shelf. It opens a secret compartment where he keeps the first clue to the treasure as well as a letter of apology to his grandson Liam. Liam later reveals that another combination of books opens a doorway to an entire hidden room.
- The Book Cipher: Sadusky left a book for Liam, using a cipher to share a message with him about Cras Est Nostrum.
- Bring Help Back: Double-subverted. When Jess, Rafael, Ethan, and Liam find the treasure in the Devil's Swamp, Ethan points out that someone will have to lead the search and rescue teams to find them, and so he goes back, but he sees Billie and goes back to stop her from killing Jess, Rafael, and Liam, apparently leaving the signal plan behind... except he didn't because he set up a smoke signal instead.
- Call-Back: The season finale's title "Treasure Protectors" may be one to how Ben described himself to Abigail when meeting her for the first time in the original film.
- Central Theme: Forgotten and overlooked historical figures should be recognized for their contributions. For instance:
- Morning Dove White, the relatively unknown Cherokee ancestor of Elvis Presley, played a key role in helping protect the location of the treasure.
- York, a slave who accompanied the Lewis and Clark expedition, helped conceal another clue in one of Lewis's journals.
- Childhood Friends: Jess, Tasha, Oren, and Ethan have all known each other for years, with Ethan and Jess being each others' oldest friends and Tasha and Oren joining up sometime in middle school.
- Chekhov's Gun:
- The duplicate of Hernán Cortés' sword that Billie keeps on her plane. Hendricks uses it to stab Ross after being revealed as Salazar.
- In the last episode, Billie warns one of the Mooks to be careful with a bag full of explosives. Later on, she uses the bag to blow open the treasure room door.
- Company Cross References
- Jess and Tasha have a Grogu doll in their apartment.
- Jess and Tasha escape the fake Feds by pretending Tasha is a Hamilton cast member. Hamilton streams on Disney Plus.
- Oren buys a Thor Funko pop.
- Oren and Tasha watch Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Oren compares Tasha and Jess to Steve and Bucky.
- Jess finds out Billie owns the sword of Hernán Cortés and says it's like owning Darth Vader's lightsaber.
- Continuity Nod:
- Peter Sadusky, Agent Hendricks, and Riley Poole all appear.
- Peter's secret study contains Ben Franklin's glasses, the ivory pipe from the Charlotte, and the plank from the Resolute desk.
- Agent Hendricks mentions his failure to act on a tip that the Declaration of Independence was about to be stolen.
- It's mentioned that Ben and Abigail have a dog named Charlotte, named after the ship that kicks off the first movie.
- Riley mentions to Jess that someone approached Ben's mother Emily about Morning Dove White.
- Cruel to Be Kind: Jess picks a fight with Tasha over the latter's Soapbox Sadie tendencies, driving her away. Because Jess was about to pull a dangerous trick on Billie and she didn't want Tasha involved in case it went south. Jess later tells Tasha that she didn't mean any of it.
- Death by Materialism: Happens to a Mook named Hector who tries to extract an emerald from a statue and gets sprayed with a hallucinogenic chemical, causing him to fire his gun wildly and shoot a fellow henchman until Kacey brings him down.
- Defector from Decadence: Myles, Peter Sadusky's nurse served as The Mole but turns on her after Billie tries to kill Liam.
- Dirty Cop:
- Billie mentions that she paid off one of the prison guards when Jess breaks out her father.
- FBI agent Hendricks turns out to be Salazar and part of the treasure-destroying conspiracy.
- Disappeared Dad: Jess' treasure hunter father disappeared when she was a baby, seemingly killed by the mooks of someone after the hidden treasure. He's actually been imprisoned in Mexico under an alias the entire time.
- Disney Death: Two occur in the season 1 finale:
- After Agent Ross gets stabbed by Hendricks, she regains consciousness right in time to save Tasha and Orin and receive first aid.
- Jess' father gets buried under rubble and knocked unconscious when Billie detonates the entry of the treasure chamber, but he gets better.
- Distaff Counterpart: Billie appears to be one for both villains from the films: A blonde Evil Brit like Ian Howe and antiquities dealer like Mitch Wilkinson.
- The Dragon:
- Kacey is this to Billie. When they're attacked by a traitor in their organization, Kacey defeats two assassins on her own. She also beats up Liam so badly he ends up in the hospital and snipes a prison guard.
- Maddox, the gray-haired bearded man, to Salazar. He's able to pursue and capture Jess, who only escapes with Kacey's help. Subverted. Jess thinks Maddox works for Salazar but Maddox is actually working against them.
- Dungeon Bypass: Jess, Liam and Rafael have to solve a tricky floor tile puzzle to get into the treasure room. Billie just blasts through the door with some C4 explosive.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Billie is angered when Hendricks kills Kacey. This is also when she realizes Hendricks killed her brother Sebastian. She quickly avenges them both.
- Evil Brit: Like Ian from the fist film, Billie, the Big Bad, is British.
- Evil Redhead: Kacey is a redheaded woman and Billie's Dragon.
- Failed a Spot Check: While moving through the Devil's Swamp, Jess and Rafael miss the warning sign for a coyote (trap) and get caught by a cage.
- Failure-to-Save Murder: Peter Sadusky influenced his son to become a treasure hunter. When his son dies, his grandson Liam blames him.
- The Fashionista: Oren is willing to wait in line to buy fancy new sneakers. He's also a skilled tailor and alters one of Peter Sadusky's suits for Liam.
- Fatal Flaw: Billie's schemes are often undone by her lack of attention to small details. For example:
- Jess sees through her fake FBI agents because their badges are signed by the President instead of the Attorney General.
- Her lie about being friends with Jess's father is exposed because she didn't put his shirt buttons on the correct side in a photoshopped picture.
- Ethan sees through her fake recording of Jess murdering Sadusky because fake!Jess says "further" instead of "farther" when referring to physical distance, a mistake the real Jess never would have made.note
- Fling a Light into the Future: The show is based on the Daughters of the Plumed Serpent hiding their wealth and history and leaving clues leading to it.
- For Want Of A Nail: Jess gets involved in the search for the Pan-American treasure because Peter Sadusky falls behind on bill payments for his storage unit.
- Freeze-Frame Bonus: The package with the "Cras Est Nostrum" book in it is addressed to Liam, implying a connection between him and Billie's organization. This foreshadows the possibility that he is The Mole who leaked the Elvis recording to Billie, though it turns out he isn't. Liam later finds the book, which holds a book cipher that reveals the secrets of the Cras Est Nostrum organization.
- Godzilla Threshold: Tasha calling Agent Ross for help when Jess is kidnapped by Cras Est Nostrum. Tasha is a Cop Hater due to the FBI's past mistreatment of her activist grandmother and Jess is an undocumented immigrant, giving them both reasons to fear law enforcement.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Billie is the primary antagonist but the mysterious Salazar is the one who was originally seeking the treasure and kidnapped Jess' father. Billie also answers to a mysterious "board" who she's seen talking to over the phone and later appears in Episode 4. They are all part of the same organization, Cras Est Nostrum, which seeks to destroy treasures, with Salazar at the top of the chain.
- Grief Song: Liam sings an original song, "I Miss That Van", at Peter's funeral, in lieu of a eulogy.
- Guile Hero: Much like Ben Gates, Jess uses trickery, historical knowledge, and observational skills rather than outright violence.
- Hiding Behind the Language Barrier: Two of Billie's henchmen text each other in Icelandic.
- Historical Badass Upgrade: The show reimagines La Malinche as the founder of a secret multinational alliance of indigenous women that protected a massive treasure from the conquistadors.
- Historical Domain Character: To be expected from a National Treasure show
- La Malinche, an indigenous noblewoman who became Hernán Cortés' translator, advisor and concubine. Jess' mother credits her with founding the Daughters of the Plumed Serpent. A professor contests her hypothesis and calls La Malinche either a helpless victim or a traitor, reflecting real life debates about her complicated role in history.
- Elvis Presley recorded a clue that was passed down from his Cherokee ancestor Morning Dove White, who received it from York, who received it from Sacagawea.
- I Don't Want to Ruin Our Friendship: Jess' attitude towards Ethan.
- The Illegal: Jess is a Dreamer, meaning she's an undocumented immigrant brought to the US as a small child. She is given a small amount of legal protection but Billie's henchmen can still threaten her with deportation while posing as FBI agents. This becomes a problem when she has to leave the US to pursue a clue.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: After Hendricks stonewalls her investigation yet again, Ross orders a full glass of red wine at a workday lunch date.
- Interclass Friendship: Ethan and Jess became friends when Jess' mother was his nanny and later tutor, implying this.
- It's Personal: How Billie feels towards Jess after Kacey is killed. Jess tricks Billie's group into a trap that gets Kacey wounded, which resulted in Hendricks shooting Kacey.
- Just Plane Wrong: Tasha identifies Billie Pearce's plane as a Bombardier Global 7500, which is has a T-tail and twin rear mounted engines. However, in all shots of the plane's exterior, the model is an Airbus A220, previously known as the Bombardier C-Series, which has twin underwing mounted engines and a standard tailplane.
- Klingon Promotion: Billie kills Hendricks and declares herself the new "Salazar".
- Lady Looks Like a Dude: Liam initially mistakes Kacey for a man due to her short hair and tuxedo.
- Legacy Character: Maddox reveals that Salazar is not one man but a title handed down by multiple treasure hunters.
- The Load: Oren's Establishing Character Moment is him ruining the gang's escape room victory because he brought a contraband cell phone with him. He later gets tricked into Billie's trap with a promise of fancy shoes. However, he gets better later on.
- Loony Fan: Liam, who plays music at a local restaurant, accuses Jess of being this when she confronts him at work, breaks into his grandfather's house, and then gets a job at the same restaurant.
- Master-Apprentice Chain: In the movies, Agent Hendricks was a young rookie agent mentored by Sadusky. Now he's back as an older veteran agent mentoring the rookie Agent Ross.
- Mayincatec: The premise of the series is that the Daughters of the Plumed Serpent, an alliance of Incan, Mayan, and Aztec women, hid their wealth while the conquistadors invaded their land. The Artistic License of this trope is lampshaded by Jess and the researchers she talks to, who point out that the Aztecs and Mayans were rivals, and the Inca existed thousands of miles away, making the concept of them all working together highly unusual.
- Mistaken for Betrayal:
- When the Elvis clue is leaked to Billie, Jess suspects Liam of being a mole. Turns out none of them are the mole and there was a bug planted in Oren's shoe.
- When Jess spots Liam running off with Merriweather Lewis' journal, she thinks he was the mole after all. Billie backs this up by telling her Liam gave her the journal willingly. It later turns out Liam was trying to protect the journal from Billie, but Kacey took him out.
- Mobile Menace: Billie primarily lives and works on her plane.
- The Mole:
- Subverted. It's implied that Liam is a spy for Billie multiple times but it never turns out to be true.
- Myles, Peter Sadusky's nurse, is a spy for Billie.
- It's revealed that Agent Hendricks is Salazar.
- My Greatest Failure:
- Hendricks mentions how his failure to act on a tip led to the Declaration of Independence being stolen.
- Agent Ross arrested the wrong person before she was sent to Baton Rouge, allowing a killer to strike again.
- Dr. Zeke Hudson implies that he used to be a surgeon but a fatal mistake caused him to become a coroner instead.
- Nebulous Evil Organization: The group that Billie works for which finds ancient treasures for the sole purpose of destroying them.
- No More Lies:
- After Ethan discovers Oren was kidnapped for the treasure and Jess hid this, they agree to no more secrets between them.
- Oren takes a polygraph test and tells the whole story of the hunt so far so the FBI can help them find Jess, clear her name, and stop Billie.
- Non-Action Big Bad: Billie. When Liam asks Miles if she killed Liam's father, Miles says no because Billie is too smart to bloody her hands personally.
- Out-Gambitted: Billie tries to trick Jess into helping her find the treasure, but Jess catches on to the deception and sends her in the wrong direction, while also stealing both of the map boxes from her.
- Pretentious Latin Motto: "Cras est nostrum" is the slogan of Billie's organization. It means "Tomorrow is ours."
- Reassigned to Antarctica: Agent Ross was top of her class and originally assigned to Washington DC. However, she accidentally arrested the wrong person, allowing a killer to strike again, and got sent to Baton Rouge.
- Recruited from the Gutter: Kacey was originally a Street Urchin and purse-snatcher before Billie found her and paid for her education, explaining why Kacey is so loyal to her.
- Scatterbrained Senior: Peter Sadusky is this, though it's ambiguous how much of it is real and how much is Obfuscating Stupidity.
- Separated by a Common Language: This ends up causing a crucial error in Billie's attempted Frame-Up of Jess for the murder of Sadusky. In the recording that supposedly implicates Jess, she uses the word "further" instead of "farther" to refer to physical distance. Jess, who speaks perfect American English, would have used "farther", but Billie is British, so she used the word "further."
- Sequel Hook: In the Season 1 finale, Liam finds a tape of his grandfather talking about La Malinche's treasure and "something else."
- Sherlock Scan: Jess does this frequently.
- Shout-Out:
- Tasha refers to the meeting room at the Masons' chambers as "so very Game of Thrones".
- Jess says Billie looks like a character from Big Little Lies.
- Cras Est Nostrum's meaning, "Tomorrow is ours", is recontextualized in "Treasure Protectors" in a manner that brings it in line with a similar slogan in the book Nineteen Eighty-Four.
"Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past." - Shown Their Work:
- Elvis Presley really did have a Cherokee ancestor named Morning Dove White.
- The fourth episode goes into great detail about the life of York, an enslaved man on the Lewis and Clark expedition, providing an explanation about how a clue from Sacagawea could end up in the hands of Morning Dove White, who was from Tennessee.
- Sinister Surveillance: Billie watches Jess enter Sadusky's home from an unseen camera, noting that 10 minutes pass between her entrance and exit. As far as listening devices are concerned, bugging shoes seems to be a common tactic for her group as Orrin and Rafael are given shoes that turn out to have listening devices on them.
- Soapbox Sadie: Tasha is disgusted by the excess shown by the rich guests at the Governor's Mansion. She gives an impromptu "The Reason You Suck" Speech as a distraction.
- Spotting the Thread:
- Jess clocks Nate and Kacey as fake FBI Agents because their badges are signed by the President. Real FBI badges would have been signed by the U.S. Attorney General.
- Liam finds a clue thanks to a gold Elvis record for "La Paloma". "La Paloma" never went gold, indicating that the record is fake. Sure enough, there's a hidden message from Elvis himself recorded on it, passed down from Morning Dove White.
- Billie shows Jess a photo of her father with Billie's brother Sebastian, implying that they were all old friends. Jess sees that the buttons on her father's shirt are on the wrong side, revealing that the picture is photoshopped.
- Ethan's evidence that the recording of Jess murdering Sadusky is fake is that Jess uses "further" instead of "farther" to refer to physical distance, which is gramatically incorrect in American English. The real Jess speaks with perfect grammar and would never make that mistake, but Billie would because she's British and this usage is correct in British English.
- Starving Artist: Liam is a bartender who occasionally plays at his bar. He's hoping to use his inheritance from his grandfather to move to Nashville and break into the country music industry so he's not happy to learn he's only inherited a house that will take years to repair before it can be sold.
- Suppressed History: The goal of Cras Est Nostrum is to erase politically inconvenient history, especially in regards to historically marginalized populations. In the words of Hendricks, "Tomorrow is ours because yesterday is ours too."
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: After Nate dies, Billie gets a new tech guy named Dario.
- Temple of Doom: Billie's group is lured into one of these, which gets Nate killed.
- Throwing the Distraction: Hendricks disarms an arrow Booby Trap by throwing a rock between where the two shooting points were.
- Tipis and Totem Poles: In addition to the Mayincatec mentioned above, the Daughters of the Plumed Serpent once worked with the Cherokee. One managed to pass a clue down to her descendant Elvis Presley.
- Tragic Keepsake:
- Jess has a necklace that once belonged to her late father. It also happens to be key to the treasure.
- Peter Sadusky has a photo of himself, his son, and his grandson at a Masonic Lodge. Now his son is dead and he has a strained relationship with his grandson Liam.
- Unspoken Plan Guarantee: When Jess tries to go over the plan for the Graceland heist, Oren mentions this trope only for the others to respond with This Is Reality. The heist goes off successfully, though they're almost caught.
- Villainous Friendship:
- Billie and Kacey are genuinely devastated when Nate is killed and have a drink in his honor.
- Kacey was Recruited from the Gutter by Billie, explaining why she's so loyal to her. The feeling is mutual as Billie is outraged by Kacey's death, which she avenges by killing Hendricks.
- Villainous Rescue:
- Billie saves Jess as she flees the Governor's Mansion.
- Rafael drops the mirror he's using to blind a sniper guard. He's about to surrender before Kacey shoots the guard.
- We Need a Distraction:
- In "Graceland Gambit", Liam distracts the guards from the secret room by holding an impromptu performance.
- In "Bad Romance", Tasha distracts the attendees as the Governor's Ball by getting up on her soapbox and calling them out on being elitist.
- In "Point of No Return", Oren is sent to distract the nuns while Jess gets the third box. He struggles, since he feels uncomfortable lying to nuns.
- Wham Episode: Episode 9 reveals that Agent Hendricks is Salazar and is the one who killed Sadusky. He also runs Agent Ross through with a sword. She survives this though thanks to the timely arrival of Oren, Tasha, Ethan and Liam, as well as some help from Dr. Zeke over the phone
- Wham Line:Riley: One of your friends may not be your friend.
- Wham Shot: Liam's makeshift suit in the trash at a hospital followed by Liam himself unconscious in a hospital bed.
- "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: The credits of the Season 1 finale show several social media posts by the characters.
- Rafael has started his own Instagram account with selfies of himself and the Pan American treasure.
- Liam has gained internet fame as a musician.
- Jess and Oren have met the President, who wears Oren's brand of sneakers.
- Ethan visits the US Supreme Court.
- Agent Ross has received medals from the FBI and Zeke is officially her boyfriend.
- Oren and Tasha have also received medals from the FBI.
- Wholesome Crossdresser: Jess' father is introduced in the prologue having infiltrated a church dressed as a nun.
- Wrongful Accusation Insurance: Rafael was mistaken for Salazar and imprisoned. He is still a free man by the end of Season 1 despite breaking out of prison and illegally entering the United States.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Hendricks shoots Kacey after she's wounded and needs to slow down. He also did the same to Billie's brother.
