Selena: The Series, Netflix’s in-depth drama profiling the life and career of Mexican-American music legend Selena Quintanilla-Perez, had fans humming along to Tejano tunes with its first full-length trailer on Monday. The series, arriving to Netflix on December 4, is considered “one of the most-anticipated shows to premiere this winter” and will see The Walking Dead’s Christian Serratos (Twilight) taking on the role of Selena, via UPROXX.
Prior to the release of this trailer, Selena: The Series gave audiences a peak into the show with a teaser trailer in the beginning of October as well as series promotional photos on their Instagram page. The full-length trailer marks the first occasion in which Selena fans were given a chance to see Serratos in action as the Queen of Tejano Music.
The opening moments of the new trailer show a young Selena, played by Madison Taylor Baez (The Tooth Racket), overheard singing a Donny and Marie Osmond song by her father. Family proves the central theme of the trailer, with The Los Angeles Times commenting that “the trailer captures the fact that the late Tejano music icon’s rise to fame was a family affair.”
In Selena: The Series, Ricardo Chavira (Desperate Housewives, Scandal) plays Abraham Quintanilla, Selena’s father who spearheaded his family’s musical efforts. According to The Los Angeles Times, Abraham formed the band Selena y Los Dinos and eventual signed his daughter to EMI’s Capitol Records. Selena y Los Dinos also featured the musical talents of Selena’s siblings A.B. and Suzette, played by Gabriel Chavarria (The Purge, East Los Angeles) and Noemi Gonzalez, respectively in Selena: The Series. The band’s guitarist Chris Perez, who married the pop star in 1992, will be played by Jesse Posey (Stitchers) and can be seen sharing romantic moments with Selena in the trailer.
Alongside their prominent roles on-screen, the Quintanilla family plays a role behind-the-scenes in the upcoming Netflix series as well. According to People, “the Quintanilla family worked with creator and executive producer Moisés Zamora to develop the series.” The Netflix series is not the first time the Quintanilla’s have lent their talents to retelling Selena’s story on-screen as they assisted in the production of the 1997 Jennifer Lopez (Hustlers) Academy Award nominated biopic Selena.
“We’re not going to deny that the movie has a special place in everyone’s hearts,” Rico Martinez, the head of content at Campanario Entertainment, told The Los Angeles Times. Martinez commented that the 18-part series will provide a more in-depth exploration of Selena’s family and career without stepping on the toes of the beloved film.
By thoroughly exploring the lives of the Quintanilla family, Netflix is trying to do more than simply tell the story of an adored pop sensation. “More than anything, we’re trying to show Hollywood that there’s this huge market of Latinx/Latino people” producer Jaime Dávila reported to The Los Angeles Times “that our stories are American stories; that our stories are global stories.”
Selena, the Grammy winning musician from Texas, truly embodies the ideals of the American Dream played out on a global stage, making her story the perfect choice to execute Davila’s mission. The first six-episode installment of Selena: The Series will make its premiere on Netflix on December 4.