Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego? And when the heck did she become one of the good guys?
Those are the questions that a brand-new Netflix series, based on the 1980s educational video game and subsequent television game show, aims to answer.
Premiering Jan. 18, the animated series will feature voice work by Gina Rodriguez from “Jane the Virgin,” as well as Finn Wolfhard from “Stranger Things.”
In this new iteration, a young Carmen Sandiego becomes a student of the Villains’ International League of Evil, or V.I.L.E. Eventually discovering that a life of crime isn’t for her — well, not entirely at least — she decides to fight back by attempting to foil V.I.L.E.’s plans and stealing back the things they’ve taken from others.
The trailer makes no mention of the ACME Detective Agency, where Sandiego gets her start in the original video games, before leaving the agency to found V.I.L.E. herself.
The feature of the series that departs most from previous versions is probably the prominence of Sandiego herself. In the video games and on the game show, players were mostly chasing her underlings and surrogates around the globe in an attempt to eventually capture her.
The 20-episode series is being produced by education company Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
“Carmen Sandiego” is rated TV-Y7.
Patrick Varine is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Patrick at 724-850-2862, pvarine@tribweb.com or via Twitter @MurrysvilleStar.
