The French ‘Zorro’ Puts a New Spin on the Swashbuckler
Get ready for the famous masked vigilante as we've never seen him before.
An all-new take on Zorro is set to premiere on our screens this summer, but the eight-part, French-language MHZ Choice series is like no version of this legend you’ve seen before.
This latest adaptation of Zorro is a genre-bending French series that aired in late 2024 on Paramount+ in several countries and on RTL-TVI in France. It stars Oscar-winning actor Jean Dujardin (The Artist) as the famous vigilante, here reimagined as a retired swashbuckler who has rededicated himself to helping others through political and civic improvement.
One of the earliest examples of a fictional masked avenger with a double identity, Zorro was created by Johnston McCulley in 1919. A dashing vigilante and masterful swordsman who protects the commoners and Indigenous people of 19th-century Spanish California, the masked swordsman’s true identity is Don Diego de la Vega, the son of a wealthy landowner. However, he pretends to be an effete, cowardly dandy to keep his secret.
But as the newly elected mayor of Los Angeles, he’ll find that sometimes the only way to fight corruption is at the tip of a sword. But as he dons his famous costume once more, Don Diego finds it more difficult than he expected to balance his dual identity. If the trailer is anything to go by, the series leans as much into comedy as it does into adventure.
Here’s the series’ synopsis.
Set in 1821 against the backdrop of a rapidly changing Los Angeles, Don Diego de la Vega unexpectedly inherits the role of mayor following his father’s death, only to discover a city drowning in debt and under the grip of the powerful Don Emmanuel. Determined to restore order and bring vital water access to the struggling community, Diego quickly realizes that politics alone cannot combat the corruption, exploitation, and growing unrest surrounding him. Diego secretly revives his long-abandoned alter ego for the first time in 20 years, becoming the masked vigilante Zorro as he fights for the people while publicly trying to govern the city as its conflicted mayor.
Alongside Dujardin, the series also stars Audrey Dana (Roman de Gare) as Gabriella de la Vega, Salvatore Ficarra (Once Upon a Time in Bethlehem) as Bernardo, Grégory Gadebois (Flowers for Algernon) as “Le Sergent,” and Eric Elmosnino (Gainsbourgh: A Heroic Life) as Don Emmanuel.
The eight-part series is created and co-written by Benjamin Charbit (Under Control), Noé Debré (Parliament), and Emmanuel Poulain-Arnaud (The Test), with Jean-Baptiste Saurel (Parallels) and Emilie Noblet (Parliament) directing. It is produced by Marc Dujardin for Le Collectif 64, Julien Seul for Bien Sûr Productions, and François Ivernel Montebello Productions, in co-production with Panache Productions, RTL-TVI, and Wallimage. Carlos Ruiz Boceta executive produces for Buttercup Films.
Zorro will premiere on Tuesday, June 30, 2026, with two episodes on MHZ Choice in both the U.S. and Canada and stream weekly through mid-August.
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