Eva Longoria is joining Paramount’s live-action “Dora the Explorer” movie. She will portray the mother of the title character.
Isabela Moner is playing Dora in the movie version of the hit Nickelodeon cartoon series. Paramount has set an Aug. 2, 2019 release date.
Kristin Burr is producing the movie, which has been in the works since 2015. Executive producers are John G. Scotti, Julia Pistor and Eugenio Derbez, who is also co-starring along with Micke Moreno, Nicholas Coombe, Madeleine Madden, Adriana Barraza and Temuera Morrison.
“Dora the Explorer” was developed through the studio’s Paramount Players division, which hired writer-director Nick Stoller in October to work on the script. James Bobin, whose credits include “Alice Through the Looking Glass” and “Muppets Most Wanted, is directing.
Production companies are Paramount Players, Nickelodeon and Walden Media. The animated “Dora the Explorer” television series ran on Nickelodeon from 2000-2014 for eight seasons with 172 episodes aired. It followed a young Latina girl who went on adventures around the world.
The movie will center on Dora as a teenager moving to the city and dealing with high school. She finds herself leading Boots (her best friend, a monkey), and a rag tag group of teens on a Goonies-esque adventure to save her parents and solve the impossible mystery behind a lost Inca civilization.
Longoria last appeared opposite Nina Dobrev, Finn Wolfhard, and Vanessa Hudgens in Ken Marino’s canine comedy, “Dog Days.” She is an executive producer for the new ABC drama series “Grand Hotel” through her production company UnbeliEVAble Entertainment. Longoria also executive produced the Lifetime series “Devious Maids” and NBC comedy “Telenovela,” in which she also starred.
Longoria is repped by CAA and Brillstein Entertainment Partners. The news was first reported by the Hollywood Reporter.