Justin Bartha Says National Treasure 3 Would Be a 'No-Brainer' for Him: 'There Is Still Hope'

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Justin Bartha is giving fans hope about a potential National Treasure 3.

The Hangover actor said in an interview with Variety this week that "there is still hope for another movie" in the National Treasure trilogy, adding that "the constant drum beat from fans for a third movie just makes it a no-brainer for me."

Regarding a script for the third film, Bartha told Variety he "had seen something a while ago and it was solid." (In January 2020, it was reported that a third National Treasure film was in the works after more than a decade since the franchise's last movie.)

"There is a script. That's all I'll say. There have been a few different scripts, actually, but the one thing that has to happen is for all the stars to align," Bartha, 44, said.

Bartha also commented on leading man Nicolas Cage and producer Jerry Bruckheimer's potential involvement in the third movie given their recent career successes. "Nic [Cage] is obviously doing great, one of the greatest ever. Jerry [Bruckheimer] just had a big hit with Top Gun: Maverick, and he is doing great," Bartha said.

Last week, Bruckheimer confirmed to E! News that a third movie is, in fact, in development.

"We said we'd like to make another National Treasure and they said, 'Sure, let's come up with a new cast,' " Bruckheimer said. "At the same time, we were developing National Treasure for the theaters with Nicolas Cage — which we still are. So that's ongoing."

RELATED: We Tried It: Disney+ National Treasure Escape Room Experience — with the Cast on Hand to Solve the Clues

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However, in April 2022, Cage seemed to believe National Treasure 3 was most likely not going to happen when answering questions on Reddit for the site's "Ask Me Anything" series. "No, the priority was to turn it into a TV show, so I would say probably not," Cage wrote at the time in response to a fan asking if there would ever be another National Treasure movie.

When asked about a possible Face/Off sequel, Cage brought up the National Treasure franchise too, telling The Hollywood Reporter in March: "I have not heard hide nor hair about it. So often these things we read about are just conjecture without any base or foundation to it. I feel the same about National Treasure 3. It's been 14 years. There's no there, there. So, is it fun to think about? Sure."

In March 2021, 15 years after National Treasure: Book of Secrets — the sequel to the original 2004 film — premiered in 2007, Disney+ ordered a 10-episode original series based on the franchise, titled National Treasure: Edge of History. The show stars Catherine-Zeta Jones and Lisette Olivera, with Bruckheimer serving as a producer.

Bartha reprised his role as Riley Poole, Ben Gates' (Cage) friend and ally on his quest to find a collection of treasures lost since the 19th century.

When asked by Variety if he ever thought about where his character would be today after the events of the sequel before he signed on to star in the Disney+ series, the actor said, "Not really! But in a storytelling sense, we have been trying to get the third movie off the ground for quite awhile."

"Jon Turtletaub, the director of those movies, and I would, back in the day, write some stuff together and tinker around with what a third in the series would look like," he continued. "So there were times where we asked what exactly is going on in the world and what that meant for the treasure they would be hunting."

While Bartha said he "just had to" throw in a reference to the major cliffhanger of what was on page 47 of the sequel's titular book of secrets while filming the Disney+ series — which many have speculated could be the subject of National Treasure 3 — no details about the plot of the third movie have been confirmed.

Bartha went on to praise his National Treasure director, adding that it is ideally up to Turtletaub to bring the third movie to life.

"The unsung hero of these movies that doesn't get mentioned as much is Jon Turtletaub. Those movies really are an extension of his being," Bartha said. "He is very smart and funny and has a buoyancy to him that mirrors the tone of the movies. I think he has to feel really comfortable and feel like he can see the movie before it happens — and it is getting closer to that."

The two National Treasure films also starred Diane Kruger, Sean Bean, Jon Voight, Harvey Keitel, Christopher Plummer, Helen Mirren, Ed Harris and Bruce Greenwood.

National Treasure: Edge of History is now streaming on Disney+.