Carmen Sandiego is making her triumphant return to media in the form of a brand-new Netflix-exclusive animated show simply called
Carmen Sandiego — after having fans of the series asking themselves "Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego" for almost 20 years.
This new animated show is taking some liberties, however, and is introducing us to a younger Carmen Sandiego; making it a bit more of an origin story than anything else. For that reason, the writers may have wanted to show us a different iteration of the character that is less villanous than the one fans of the original game and animated series' may be used to.
One of the new elements brought to the new
Carmen Sandiego series is an original character called Player — played by
Stranger Things and
IT star Finn Wolfhard — who is a hacker that acts as the "guy in the chair" for Carmen.
In a recent interview, Finn Wolfhard revealed some new details about both the
Carmen Sandiego show and Player, the character he will be voicing on the show.
According to Wolfhard, his introduction to the
Carmen Sandiego series was pretty much at the same time he joined the project, revealing that he "
had heard the name but had no context. It was only as we got into it that I realized how huge Carmen was."
On providing the voice for new original character Player, Wolfhard mentions that he doesn't really remember whether he was offered the role or if he auditioned; all he knew was that "
Gina Rodriguez was in and I wanted to be involved, too", Wolfhard explained. He then goes a little bit more into detail about this new hacker character, sharing where he got some inspiration for the character.
"
To see a hacker actually hacking is not the most interesting thing visually, and it’s pretty boring as an actor: a hacker taps on her keyboard. There’s really not much more than that. So you have to focus on the hacker’s relationships and why they are hacking in the first place. I don’t think I thought about similar characters as much as I asked myself, 'Why does Player spend so much time inside on his computer, and why does he seeks out Carmen in particular?'"
As for the future of Player, Wolfhard can't really share too much about the character or his background but he's still excited to be the character that provides information to Carmen Sandiego on the show.
"
I’m not giving anything away on this one! You’re just going to have to watch and see what happens. For now, all I can say is that Player loves his roles as the voice inside Carmen’s head, and as the guy who can get information to her and the audience quickly."
To read the rest of the interview, head over to
Collider and read all about Wolfhard's views on the possibility of a live action Carmen Sandiego movie, doing voice acting, and maybe something to tease about upcoming projects for the young actor.
A master thief who uses her skills for good, Carmen Sandiego travels the world foiling V.I.L.E.'s evil plans -- with help from her savvy sidekicks.
Carmen Sandiego is available on Netflix today.