Emmy Award winner John Leguizamo follows up his brilliant one-man show, Latino History for Dummies (2018), with a Master Class in the three-part historical documentary for PBS VOCES. American Historias: The Untold History of Latinos, Leguizamo’s panoramic, kaleidoscopic landscape exalting the centuries long contributions of Latinos to the Americas is a colorful, dramatic and illuminating cinematic wall mural worthy of Diego Rivera.

American Historias, co-written and directed by Ben de Jesus, proudly chronicles the Latino legacy from the great indigenous ancient Meso-American empires, the Conquest, the Latinization of the Americas and the Caribbean. It reminds us of our military heroism, patriotism, political activism for social justice, our cultural influences in the arts, music, film, theater and not the least of which is our world class cuisine.

Leguizamo points out Latinos are an ethnic mixture with roots in Europe, Africa an  Meso America. We are a complicated multi-layered and delicious ethnic dish like traditional Mexican mole, a blend of native and several ingredients from all over the world.

American Historias bursts, con mucho argullo Latinim like a busted piñata. Each one of the tasty historias is excellent material for movies, like Walkout and Stand and Deliver. We must have our own all Latino streaming network like Netflix. We must have a MEXFLIX streaming network to tell and share nuestro American Latino historias with the world.
American Historias is currently streaming Prime Video, Hulu & YouTubeTV.  You can also watch it free on pbs.org/VOCES

American Historias: The Untold History of Latinos is executive produced by Jill Kirkorian and produced by Alessandra Quest and Belinda Salazar Kizy among

Currently Steaming on Hulu, Prime Video and on PBS.org/Voces. Or to purchase the three hourlong episodes go to Amazon CLICK HERE.

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Joining the exclusive ranks of Rita Moreno, a Puerto Rican trailblazer, and Lupita Nyong’o, today Oscar nomination of America Ferrera makes a notable dent in the lack of diversity for Latinos in Hollywood.

Ferrera’s nomination not only celebrates her exceptional talent but also symbolizes a positive shift in the industry’s recognition of Latinx performers. Known for her impactful roles in projects like Real Women Have Curves and Ugly Betty, Ferrera has consistently broken barriers and challenged stereotypes.

Ferrera’s journey reflects the increasing acknowledgment of diverse voices in the entertainment world. Her presence in the Oscar nomination list is a testament to the importance of representation and the ongoing efforts to promote inclusivity in the film industry.

In a landscape where Latinx representation remains a crucial topic, America Ferrera’s Oscar nomination stands as a beacon of inspiration, paving the way for more Latinx talent to be recognized and celebrated on the grand stage of the Academy Awards.

This year Latinos were also nominated in various categories either for individual statues, or as part of a team.

ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE

Colman Domingo
Rustin

ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE

America Ferrera
Barbie

AIMATED FEATURE FILM

Robot Dreams
Pablo Berger, Ibon Cormenzana, Ignasi Estapé and Sandra Tapia Díaz

CINEMATOGRAPHY

Killers of the Flower Moon
Rodrigo Prieto

MUSIC (Original Song)

“The Fire Inside” from Flamin’ Hot
Music and Lyric by Diane Warren – Performed by Becky G

MAKEUP AND HAIRSTYLING

Society of the Snow
Ana López-Puigcerver, David Martí and Montse Ribé

The 96th Oscars will be broadcast on Sunday, March 10, 2024 on ABC. Those without access to ABC can still watch the Oscars live with streaming services that offer live television, including Hulu + Live TV, Sling TV and FuboTV

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The acclaimed Mexican director and producer Patricia Riggen has a body of work as a director and producer that is enviable. This year the Imagen Awards have nominated Riggen for the 38th Annual Imagen Award for Best Director – Television for her moving work on the critically acclaimed streaming series Little America on Apple TV. The Imagen Award will take place in Los Angeles on Sunday, December 3rd at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel. This is Riggen’s 4th Imagen Award nomination for a Best Director and has previously won for the feature films Under the Same Moon (2008), Girl in Progress (2012), and The 33 (2016).

The Imagen Awards recognize excellence in Latine representation in the entertainment industry, and have chosen Riggen as a finalist in the Best Director category this year for her exceptional contributions in television. Little America has garnered widespread acclaim for its compelling storytelling that explores the diverse and inspiring stories of immigrants in the United States, offering a unique perspective on the American experience.

Riggen’s nomination is a testament to her talent and consistent dedication to bringing these powerful Latino/e/x narratives to the screen. She masterfully directed the 2nd season finale episode (episode 8) of the Apple TV produced series.

The Little America episode, entitled ‘The Indoor Arm’, tells the true story of Celia (played by Victoria Canal), an El Salvadorian arm amputee who struggles to adjust to her new life after immigrating to America to be with her sister Marianna (played by Teresa Ruiz). This very important episode shines a light on the struggles, triumphs and self-acceptance of an immigrant in the U.S who also deals with daily physical challenges. Both Latina actresses in this episode are also nominated for an Imagen Award. Actress Victoria Canal is nominated for Best Actress – Comedy (Television) in her first acting role ever and the wonderful Teresa Ruiz for Best Supporting Actress – Comedy (Television). The episode also features moving performances by Academy Award nominee June Squibb (Mrs. Danforth) and award-winning actor James Saito (Ray).

“I’m honored to have been nominated once again for an Imagen Award. The support and encouragement that Helen Hernandez and the Imagen Foundation has given me throughout my career is truly humbling. Filming this episode of the “Little America” series holds a very special place in my heart. Having the opportunity to tell a true story about the struggles immigrants in the U.S. have always faced but with the added element of showing the struggles and triumphs of individuals with different abilities was so important to me.  We rarely see stories like this on screen.” – shared Patricia Riggen.

Born in Guadalajara, Mexico, Riggen is no stranger to accolades, having previously received numerous awards for her work as a director and producer. Riggen gained widespread acclaim with her feature film La Misma Luna (Under the Same Moon), which was acquired in an unprecedented sale by Fox Searchlight at the Sundance Film Festival in 2008 and became one of the first  Spanish-language box office sensations in the United States. Riggen’s remarkable career includes receiving a Student Academy Award for her short film, La Milpa (The Cornfield) and earning the Jury Prize at the Sundance for her documentary Family Portrait.

Her filmography includes the features Girl in Progress and the Disney Channel hit Lemonade Mouth, recognized with a DGA Award nomination. In 2015, Patricia helmed The 33, a film recounting the Chilean mining accident in 2010, followed by the successful Sony Pictures feature film Miracles from Heaven, which grossed over $73 million at the box office. Her versatility extends to directing both streaming and network episodic television, where she has excelled with series such as Amazon’s Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan and most recently Hulu’s Dopesick. Currently, Riggen is working on her sixth feature film project, G20, an action-packed thriller featuring Oscar winner Viola Davis, scheduled for release in 2024.

For more information about Little America CLICK HERE.

For more information about the 38th Annual Imagen Awards: 

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This coming of age story follows a group of high school friends from a neighborhood where despite the fact that fighting is stitched into the fabric of everyday life, high school junior Miguel (Tyler Dean Flores) has never found himself in one. And, he’s perfectly fine with that. But as his life feels like it is turning upside down, Miguel wants to prove his solidarity to his friend, who chastised him for not joining them in the fights they have had. His three best friends —the stoic David (Christian Vunipola), the rowdy Cass (Imani Lewis) and the quick-tonged Srini (Suraj Partha) — who decide to help to Miguel have his very first fight to hilarious results.

Rodriguez has worked on over 50 episodes of SNL. He directed the Emmy®-winning show Creating Saturday Night Live, which documents the making of America’s most iconic sketch comedy TV series for which he won a personal Primetime Emmy in 2029. We talk to Rodriguez about Miguel Wants to Fight, the casting, how the story developed, and shooting the martial arts and fight scenes in the film.

Other cast includes Imani Lewis, Christian Vunipola, Suraj Partha, Raúl Castillo, Dascha Polanco, and Andrea Navedo.

Miguel Wants to Fight is directed by Oz Rodriguez and written by Jason Conception and Shea Serrano; produced by Jeremy Garelick, Will Phelps, Molle DeBartolo, Mickey Liddell, Pete Shilaimon and Oz Rodriguez; executive producers include Jimmy Price and Michael Glassman.

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Despite living in a neighborhood where fighting is stitched into the fabric of everyday life, high school junior Miguel (Tyler Dean Flores) has never found himself in one. And, to be honest, he’s perfectly fine with that. But when a combination of events turns his life upside down, Miguel and his three best friends —the stoic David (Christian Vunipola), the rowdy Cass (Imani Lewis), and the quick-tonged Srini (Suraj Partha)— enter into a series of hilarious misadventures as he tries to get into his first ever fight.

Directed by Oz Rodriguez (Vampires vs. the Bronx) and written by Jason Conception (Primo) and Shea Serrano (Primo), the cast of Miguel Wants to Fight includes Tyler Dean Flores (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit), Raúl Castillo (El Chicano), Dascha Polanco (Orange is the New Black), and Andrea Navedo (Jane the Virgin).

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It made big news when it premiered in August and is coming back with more of the irreverent comedy that audiences loved.  This Fool, the Hulu Original comedy series, produced by ABC Signature has been renewed for ten more episodes of creator and star Chris Estrada’s comedy series.

Season one of This Fool premiered this year on August 12 streaming on Hulu with 10 episodes. You can still watch it if you have not seen it and want to get up to speed for season two.  The series is written and executive produced by Chris Estrada, Pat Bishop (Corporate), Jake Weisman (Corporate) and Matt Ingebretson (Corporate). Jonathan Groff (Black-ish) and Fred Armisen (Los Espookys) also serve as executive producers on the series. 

This Fool is a half-hour comedy about a working class ordinary (very ordinary) “Joe”.  Julio Lopez is a 30 year-old man who still lives at home, a prim and proper, self-righteous man with an on-and-off girlfriend who, the worse she treats him the more he pursues her.  She is his high school sweetheart…who is not very sweet to him.  Julio works at a non-profit gang rehabilitation where he takes his cousin, recently released from jail, in hopes of rehabilitating him.  Which is easier said than done.  

At Hugs Not Thugs, the non-profit works for, Julio takes his job of reforming his ex-gang member cousin seriously, but it proves to be harder than he imagined.

The supporting cast is stellar.  In addition to Estrada who plays the lead, Frankie Quiñones who plays Julio’s cousin,  Laura Patalano plays his mom Esperanza; Michelle Ortiz plays his girlfriend Maggie, veteran actress Julia Vera plays Maria his grandmother and Michael Imerioli plays Minister Payne.  

This cast of characters quickly endeared themselves to a ready audience who have been waiting for season two!

Chris Estrada is repped by United Talent Agency

Cowboys Movies Back in The Saddle Again

Not sure how much Kevin Costner’s western series Yellowstone has had a hand in raising the profile of the western genre, but Indie filmmaker Mario Van Peebles (Power Book III: Raising Kanan) just wrapped production on a new western called Outlaws which he directed and stars in.   His cast includes Whoopie Goldberg (Till), Cedric the Entertainer (The Neighborhood) and Edward James Olmos (Mayans M.C.) 

Van Peebles plays a renegade cowboy who assembles a team of multicultural friends to help him retrieve gold from an abandoned mine. It sounds like the feature Oceans 11, western style!  We are glad they included Olmos as one of the main characters because how can you make a movie about cowboys without them, when Mexicans invented the iconic cowboy genre.  Words like Buckaroo is an Anglicized form of the word in Spanish “vaquero” and “la reata” became lariat.  

Westerns are making a comeback and stories of Mexican “Vaqueros” are currently in development.  More on that in next week’s Hollywood Talks!

Edward James Olmos is repped by Ben Dey of Creative Artists Agency

Get Ready for Anna Garcia

You may not know Anna Garcia (Hacks) but soon you will.  She is a graduated of  the University of Michigan with a B.A. in Film and moved to L.A. in 2017..  She was a stand out in the 2022 CBS Comedy Showcase and after making appearances on TV shows like Hacks, Superstore and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, she is now ready for her film close up.

Garcia landed a much sought-after role in what will be her feature film debut in Project Artemis where she will work alongside Jim Rash (Harely Quinn), Ray Romano (Parenthood), Scarlett Johansson (Avengers: End Game) and Channing Tatum (The Lost City). 

The film, whose plot line is listed on IMDB as “under wraps” is rumoured to be a 1960s space race film.  It is being directed by Greg Berlanti for Apple Studios and produced by Johansson, Jonathan Lia and Keenan Flynn of These Pictures.  Rose Gilroy and Sarah Schechter wrote the script.

Anna is repped by Valerie Champeau at Paradigm Talent Agency 

The post ‘This Fool’ is Back for Season 2; Cowboys Ride Again; Here Comes Anna Garcia first appeared on .

Inspired by the life and standup career of star and co-creator Chris Estrada, the 10-episode Hulu series, This Fool, centers around 30-year-old Julio (Estrada), who almost dementedly attempts to avoid conflict at all costs. Living and working in South Central Los Angeles, Julio navigates his way through a series of codependent relationships with his family Grandma Julia Vera and mother Laura Patalano, who he lives with; his girlfriend Maggie (Michelle Oritz), whom he’s been dating since high school; his older cousin Louis (Frankie Quinones), who has just gotten out of prison and is now living with Julio’s family, and his co-workers at Hugs Not Thugs, a South L.A. gang rehabilitation center. The comedic elements come from Julio’s inability to avoid dealing with his problems, punctuated immensely by the colorful portrayals of his castmates. 

In fact, the opening episode relies too much on the off-the-wall antics of the people who inhabit Julio’s world. Estrada’s adept timing happily allows the others to shine, keeping the action moving non-stop. In the process, we come to see that Julio is clearly one of the more miserable characters to be on a sitcom, while proving Estrada to be one of the most effective straight men working in television. In viewing the chaos of living in a troubled neighborhood, one wishes that Julio would try harder to rise above the situations that converge against him. But the character is often no match for the people in his life. While Julio struggles to be sane and rational with his supposed girlfriend, Maggie dominates, at one point casually taking his car, steamrolling his protests with breezy aplomb. In the meantime, Quinones’ Louis is a bombastic loudmouth who reduces his cousin to the timid little boy whom he has dominated all his life. 

What saves Julio is how he spends his days working at Hugs Not Thugs, trying to help reformed gang members and ex-cons make successful re-entries into society. He proves himself to be a worthy, insightful helpmate, even though his workdays don’t always move along smoothly, especially when dealing with his boss, the less than holy and highly unconventional minister-in-charge of Hugs Not Thugs, portrayed with dead-pan humor by Michael Imperioli. But it is at this rehab center that Julio manages to occasionally rise above the chaos of his life, even managing to outwit his cousin, using Luis’ pride and ego to cajole him into making the rehab center’s famous cupcakes for an important sale. It also shows another side of Luis, from a wisecracking joker to a man looking to improve himself. 

If the series manages in its ensuing episodes to rise above the over-abundance of gang banger sight gags and sad sack jokes, placing Julio on more of an even keel with the people in his life, then This Fool has a chance of sustaining itself. Chris Estrada is a masterful comedian, who has created an intriguing premise and a potentially worthy hero that the viewing audience should be cheering on to succeed. It can be funny when Julio falls victim, but it would be more rewarding to witness the basic decency and goodness of the man when he helps those souls around him to build better lives for themselves.    This Fool, which debuts August 12, is written and executive produced by Chris Estrada, Pat Bishop, Jake Weisman and Matt Ingebretson. Jonathan Groff and Fred Armisen also serve as executive producers on the series. The Hulu comedy is produced by ABC Signature. 

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Latino Hollywood must be scratching their collective heads over the recent Oscar, Tony and now Emmy awards that have consistently overlooked or openly snubbed deserving Latino films, TV shows, and the talent behind and in front of the camera.

So Much for Diversity

Of the dozens of potential Latino Emmy nominees TV series and on-camera actors eligible and worthy of an Emmy nomination, incredibly only a grand total of TWO Latinos were graced by the voters with Emmy nominations: Colman Domingo is nominated for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama TV Series for his portrayal of Ali in Euphoria and Oscar Isaacs for his Leading Actor Emmy nomination for his role as Jonathan in HBO’s Scenes From A Marriage. And as Porky Pig would say: “That’s all folks!”

But the Gomez snub for her work as an actress in Only Murders in the Building is especially galling because it begs the question of the Emmy voters: “What the heck were you people watching?” Gomez was lauded by Deadline Hollywood as “the glue that holds the show together.” How is it the voters looked right past that insightful and accurate bit of news?

Chemistry 101

The chemistry between the main characters in Only Murders in the Building Is cited as a major factor in the huge success of Hulu’s Original TV series which has earned 17 Emmy nominations including two for its male leads, Steve Martin and Martin Short., for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy series. The two comic actor legends have worked together in films like The three Amigos, Father of the Bride, countless other collaborations, so the chemistry between these two comedy amigos was well-established. But the question going into season one of Only Murders in the Building was how Selena Gomez would fit in with her two veteran comic co-stars.

From the very beginning, Gomez’s character, Mabel Mora, has proven to be a pivotal one in the storyline. Gomez’s portrayal of Mabel Mora as a potty-mouthed, droll, street-smart young New Yorker who delivers her one-line acid rejoinders with lethal deadpan accuracy, is the perfect foil and contrast to the Martin and  Short characters. Gomez is the active chemical agent in this potent comedic trio.

Steve Martin’s character, Charles Haden Savage, is a former TV star of a cop show, Brazos. Savage is a bit world-weary and somewhat of a cynic. However, Martin Short as Oliver Putman is a kinetic, hyper theatrical out-of work Broadway director. The three residents of the iconic Arconia Hotel team up to solve a murder that has occurred in the scenic old structure.

But Mabel’s allegiance to the crime-fighting team, her personal agenda, sexual identity and dark past connection to the Arconia Hotel are cleverly not made clear by the writers of the show. Over the succeeding episodes in season one and continuing into season two Mabel’s true character is slowly peeled away and revealed one onion layer at a time.

At times, Savage and Putman are not quite sure if Mabel is an ally, a BFF, a conniving femme fatale, or even a murderer, it’s obvious Mabel is the emotional focus of their lives. Regardless of their suspicions, they admire Mabel because she is cool, hip, smart, and has what old-timers like Savage and Putman nostalgically used to call “moxie.”

Without Mabel, Savage and Putman are just two old fuddy duddies fumbling around trying to solve a murder mystery. Mabel is the much-needed catalyst that drives the plot and whose caustic charm compliments and completes this oddball May-December crime-fighting trio. Gomez is without a doubt the glue that holds it all together.

The Other Snubbed Main Character

From a certain angle or critical perspective, you could argue that the two main characters in Only Murders in the Building are actually Mabel Mora and the Arconia Hotel. By placing all the action in the historic dwelling with its grand, spacious old New York City apartments, the writers have made the setting of the Arconia Hotel a universe unto itself.

At the center of that universe is Gomez as Mabel Mora. Mabel’s emotional tentacles are wound through and around the Arconia Hotel. The true hierarchy of characters is made abundantly clear in the opening credits. That opening credit shot sequence is a basic tutorial in scene analysis and cinema language. It begins with a shot of the outside wall of the hotel. First, we see Steve Martin through the window of his apartment. As we pan upward, we see Martin Short in his window. Finally, we reach the top and there looking demure and mysterious is Gomez. In classic movie scene structure, the character in the superior or higher position is the dominant character, the one in charge, the focal point of the scene.

So apparently and most painfully, the Emmy voters not only neglected to watch Only Murders in the Building, or notice Gomez was even in the cast and therefore did not fully appreciate her wonderful acting talents, but also totally missed the clues as to her true stature in the TV series shown in plain sight in easy to understand film studies cinema language in the opening credits.

Only Murders in the Building has been renewed for a third season. No doubt next year the series will again receive Emmy nominations. Hopefully within this time, the bag of plenty we will see a slip of paper with the name of Selena Gomez nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series along with her two crime-solving compadres, Messrs. Martin and Short. The Emmy voters need to take Gomez off the snub list and recognize her vital comedic contributions to the success of Only Murders in the Building. 

Season Two of Only Murders in the Building is currently streaming on Hulu.

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Not only is actor/comedian Eugenio Derbez beloved in his home country of Mexico, he has also become a box office name in the U.S. and by extension, the world, recently appearing in the Oscar-winning film CODA.  Next, the world gets to experience his comedic talent in the English-language remake of the French hit The Valet, when it premieres as a  Hulu Original (May 20) in the U.S. and Internationally on Disney+ as a Star Original. Richard Wong is set to direct.

The Valet centers around a movie star Olivia (Samara Weaving) who enlists a parking valet (Derbez) at a Beverly Hills restaurant to pose as her lover to cover-up her relationship with a married billionaire (Max Greenfield). As a valet, hard-working Antonio usually flies under the radar but his ruse with Olivia thrusts him into the spotlight and brings him to see himself more clearly than ever before. “Its message of unity, seeing each other and human connection, is something the world could use right now and no one does that better than Hulu and Disney+,“ said Wong.  

Derbez’s “crossover success” from television and film star in Mexico to the U.S. was sealed when he started appearing in films that were slanted with U.S. Latinos in mind.  One of the first films he made for the U.S. market was Bajo La Misma Luna/Under The Same Moon (2007) which was a Mexico/U.S. co-production written by Lijiah Villalobos and directed by Patricia Riggen.  Derbez had a small but pivotal role in this film, but it was enough for him to realize that he had millions of fans in the U.S. 

Mexican-Americans are 66% of all U.S. Latinos and they are familiar, or their parents are familiar with the show Derbez co-created, co-directed, and starred in, the family sitcom La familia P. Luche, as they watched it on U.S. Spanish language networks.  He realized that there was a substantial audience that would support his content in the U.S.

This notion was put to the test when he produced his first film marketed in the U.S., Instructions Not Included (2013) which he directed, co-wrote, and starred in.  It became the most successful Spanish-language film in the U.S. and worldwide broke numerous box-office records, earning more than $100 million worldwide. $44.4 million of that was earned in the U.S., with the help of the U.S. Latino market with MPAA has noted purchase 26% of all movie tickets.

Derbez produced and starred in a string of films beginning with Instructions Not Included which was followed by How To Be A Latin Lover (2017), and Overboard (2018).  In between producing his films he took on co-starring roles in high-profile studio films like Miracles From Heaven (2016) for Columbia Pictures, Dora and the Lost City of Gold for Paramount, and recently CODA for Apple TV+.  He has solidified his role in the U.S. as an actor that can “carry” a movie, meaning it will make a return on investment at the box office. 

Some would say that Derbez has found a winning formula. The one thing his films have in common is the casting, mixing known general market actors in the U.S. and Mexican actors.  This winning combination has worked for his previous films and it is the same formula in play with The Valet.  Betsy Brandt (Life in Pieces), Marisol Nichols (Riverdale, Criminal Minds), Noemi Gonzalez (Selena: The Series), Carmen Salinas (legendary Mexican actress who recently died), Ravi Patel (Wonder Woman), Tiana Okoye, Diany Rodriguez (The Blacklist), Mexican actor Armando Hernández, Carlos Santos (Gentefied), Amaury Nolasco (Hightown, Prison Break), John Pirucello (Godzilla vs. Kong) and Alex Fernandez (Mayans MC) round out the rest of the cast with Reggaeton superstar Lunay set to make his film acting debut. 

“The Valet is a multi-generational, multicultural comedy in which people from two different worlds discover the humanity in each other, Derbez and his 3Pas production company partner Benjamin Odell said in a joint statement. “ At 3pas studios we tell stories that try to unite us all and we love partnering with Hulu+ and Disney+ to bring this to the largest global audience possible.”

For the most part, in the domestic film world, Derbez has established himself as an actor that can carry, as well as produce a film that delivers box office numbers.  He is now looking to conquer the international market.

The Valet is written by Rob Greenberg & Bob Fisher, the team that penned Derbez’s hit film Overboard, which took in $95 million worldwide. Derbez and Odell’s 3Pas Studios banner is currently producing the television series Acapulco, which recently got picked up for a 2nd season by Apple TV.  

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FX premiered the fourth season of Mayans. M.C., the ten-episode limited season on April 19th and it is off to a rollicking start that has fans chewing it up. Currently airing on FX and streaming on Hulu.  

This edgy series co-created by Elgin James follows the life of two brothers Ezekiel ‘EZ’ Reyes (JD Pardo), and his brother Angel (Clayton Cadenas) both members of the all-Latino Mayans M.C. charter on the Cali/Mexi border. “You might say, this season opens with a bang,” says James. “EZ and his brother Angel, with the rest of the Santo Padre M.C., are facing retaliation from other chapters of Mayans after a failed attempt to align under one King.” 

This season, EZ is taking on a bigger leadership role in the Mayans, he explains, “When it comes to EZ, in these dark places, there’s an awakening that happens.  It’s like you almost have to go through the fire and experience the lowest of the lows to understand who you are and to test it.” Adding, “I think that’s where you find these characters, and that’s where they’re really going to break out.”

“For Angel, I think there’s always been the sort of tear in his character. Which blood was thicker to him?  Was it the actual, literal blood of his brother or was it the blood of the club?” questions Cardenas about his character’s thought process, explaining how he got there. “I think towards the end of the early seasons we started to see the shift in him as he saw his brother fully immersing himself into the life of the club.  So, this season we see which way Angel will lean into.”

The family bond between EZ and Pardo is also tested by their relationship with their father, Felipe, played by Edward James Olmos. The two brothers have grown distant from Felipe, after what is perceived as a heart-wrenching betrayal, which needs to be resolved. The family dynamic becomes more complicated in the final season, involving lives more than just the family.    

This season Mayans bring up Frankie Loyal, Vincent Vargas, and  Joseph Lucero as series regulars while the four-season solid regulars Danny Pino, Carla Baratta, Michael Irby, Raoul Max Trujillo, Richard Cabral, Emilio Rivera, and Sarah Bolger continue to be the factors that fuel the Mayans.  

“Most importantly, 95 percent of our cast is Latinx, and I think it’s the most important part of the show,” says Bolger. “ It represents people that I think don’t get as much screen time as they deserve.  I’m an Irish girl. I feel so lucky to get to play Emily Galindo and be part of this world and I have learned so much in the process.”

Olmos adds, “This season is arguably the best season I’ve ever read, and if it keeps going like this, it will be around a long time.  And the first three seasons don’t quite prepare you for the fourth. So take it from there, okay.  Because you’re in for one hell of a ride, man.” 

Mayans M.C, is executive produced by James, Sutter and Hilton Smith. The fourth season is produced by 20^th Television and FX Productions.

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