What sort of historic events could the National Treasure 3 plot tackle? We’ve got a few ideas perfect for the threequel.
Disney has announced that National Treasure 3 is officially in the works. While this is phenomenal news for everyone who loved the originals, there’s still a lot we don’t know.
For one, there’s been no announcement as to whether original director Jon Turteltaub will return, or whether original stars Nicolas Cage, Justin Barta, Diane Kruger, and Jon Voight will also sign on.
It would obviously be great if the whole team came back for National Treasure 3, but a solid script is what will truly make or break the film.
The original films gave us some good jumping off points for a possible National Treasure 3 plot, but all of American history is wide open for us to explore. Let’s see what Ben, Abigail, Riley, and Patrick could possibly tackle next.
5 possible ‘National Treasure 3’ plot ideas
What’s on page 47?
Let’s get this one out of the way first because it seems to be the most likely candidate for the third film’s plot. In National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets, we learn that when the president takes office, he inherits a book full of secret information.
At the end of the movie, the president asks Ben if he can help him with what was on page 47. Ben tells him he can and that it will be “life-altering.” This is, of course, a pretty big setup for the next movie.
But what was on the page? The honest answer is that we don’t know. The book contained all sorts of information, such as entries about Area 51, the Kennedy assassin, and more. The book holds the truth about any major controversy or secret that has taken place throughout history. There’s a lot to pull from.
ScreenRant has some excellent projections for what exactly could be on page 47, with some awesome historical knowledge to back it all up. We don’t know if this is definitely the direction National Treasure 3 will take, but it certainly would make for an exciting movie!
Let’s go back to the beginning
Another cool way to tie everything together would be to go back to the treasure they found at the end of the first movie. That room was full of priceless historical artifacts, and any number of those items — once lost to history — could be the perfect jumping off point for another adventure.
This could even tie into the time jump between the second and third movies, since it’s already been over 12 years since the last one. Perhaps some intern was cataloging an item from the stash they found beneath Trinity Church and found yet another treasure map. I’m rooting for those scrolls from the library at Alexandria.
This would be an easy way to introduce some new characters while also bringing the old team back together. Since it has been so long since National Treasure 2, a new dynamic would likely exist between our four main characters and we’d have the entire movie to work through whatever problems they may be facing.
In plain sight
One of my favorite ideas for what National Treasure 3 could do is related to a throwaway line at the end of the original film. After all is said and done, Ben uses his newfound riches to buy Charles Carroll’s house.
If you remember, Carroll was the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence. He was also the one who told Thomas Gates the clue, “The secret lies with Charlotte.” The Gates and Carroll families are already tied together, so it would be fun to continue that relationship in the third movie.
I imagine there’s some secret compartment in the Carroll house that Ben has yet to discover. Perhaps it hides its own treasure, or perhaps it houses a clue that leads to another clue that leads to another clue that leads to a map that Ben will have to decipher before finding out the real treasure is the friendships he made along the way.
It all comes back to Washington
George Washington has been an important figure for this franchise for all the obvious reasons. Abigail collected his inaugural buttons in the first movie, and the President had his birthday party at Mount Vernon in the second. Plus, there’s the whole fact that he was a Mason and helped, y’know, found our country and all that.
I’d love to see Washington have a bigger role in the third movie. There’s something special about discovering a new piece of information about our first president. Plus, there are a lot of historical documents to pull from.
What’s more, they could also tie clues into Mount Vernon or the Washington Monument. The latter, especially, would be interesting, given that it’s an obelisk and one of those in-plain-sight clues this franchise loves so much.
Check your history books
There are a lot of reasons why this franchise is so popular — the action and adventure, interesting historical facts, Nic Cage’s crazy eyes — but one of the most significant reasons is the subtle patriotism wrapped up in an appreciation for our shared past.
There are plenty of events that changed the course of American history, and we’ve already seen two of the biggest ones in the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the Civil War. What could possibly come next?
I think it would be interesting to explore a newer historical event; perhaps something still held within the minds of those who are alive to this day. National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets didn’t shy away from conspiracy theories, and I think the National Treasure 3 plot could benefit from a similar approach.
The idea that our history books may not be as accurate as once believed is becoming a more mainstream idea. History is told by the winners, after all, but that doesn’t mean marginalized people have ceased to exist. I’d love to watch the next National Treasure movie tackle something with a little more diversity that sets the record straight on some previously-held beliefs.