Fresh off the success of Overboard, Mexican superstar Eugenio Derbez is finalizing a deal to play the villain in Paramount Players’ live-action Dora the Explorer movie, Collider has learned. Derbez will play a roguish explorer named Alejandro Gutierrez who ends up being the antagonist. We’re not sure if that’s treated as a reveal in the film, so we apologize in advance if we’re spoiling the Dora the Explorer movie here.

Additionally, Walden Media has joined the project as a co-financier and co-producer, according to sources.

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Image via Nikelodeon

Isabela Moner (Transformers: The Last Knight) will star as the titular teen, who heads out on an adventure with her best friend, Boots the monkey, and her cousin Diego. Besides Diego, expect the next casting announcements to concern Dora’s friends Sammy Moore and Randy Pang, as well as her parents.

James Bobin (The Muppets) is directing from a script by Nick Stoller and Danielle Sanchez-Witzel, and Paramount is slated to release the film on Aug. 2, 2019. Production will start later this summer.

Dora the Explorer is based on the popular Nickelodeon children’s show, and Paramount Players has a mandate to leverage Viacom-owned properties for the big screen treatment. The studio is also developing a feature adaptation of the beloved Nick series Are You Afraid of the Dark? and also recently acquired the film rights to the popular toy Creepy Crawlers.

Derbez has developed a huge fanbase of late thanks to films like Instructions Not Included (which grossed just under $100 million worldwide) and How to Be a Latin Lover. He also appeared in GeostormMiracles from Heaven and Adam Sandler’s Netflix movie Sandy Wexler. The actor will soon be seen in Disney’s The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, as well as heard as a voice in The Angry Birds Movie 2. As a producer, he’s also developing a Speedy Gonzales movie at Warner Bros. He’s represented by UTA.

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Image via via MGM & Pantelion Films
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Image via Nikelodeon