Ahead of the premiere of Selena: The Series on Netflix next month, the streamer and the family of the late singer are getting hit with a lawsuit. Hollywood producer Moctesuma Esparza, who helped produce the 1997 biopic Selena starring Jennifer Lopez, is now suing Selena's father, Abraham Quintanilla, along with her sister, Suzette. According to the court docs, Esparza claims the Netflix series breaks an agreement signed by Abraham in 1995 giving Esparza the rights to the life stories of Selena and various members of the Quintanilla family.

Per TMZ, Esparza argues that the deal included a motion picture along with any potential remakes. After the success of Selena in 1997, Esparza claims he had further discussions with Abraham about developing a followup movie or TV series. Although the project didn't materialize at the time, Esparza's suit also alleges that he later spoke with Suzette and Abraham to speak about a storyline he'd developed for a Young Selena project. The project didn't happen, and Esparza claims he was "shocked" when he saw in 2018 that Abraham had licensed the Selena rights to Netflix.

Esparza alleges that he couldn't get a clear answer from Warner Bros., the studio behind the 1997 biopic, as to how Abraham got the green light. Regardless, he's suing Abraham and Suzette both for breach of contract, and the producer is including Netflix in the lawsuit for "ignoring" their deal. It appears to be a big-money lawsuit as well, as Esparza will seek at least $1 million in damages. As of now, Netflix has not publicly responded to the lawsuit.

Known as the Queen of Tejano music, Selena Quintanilla-Perez was the top-selling Latin artist of the 1990s. After winning Best Mexican/American Album at the 1994 Grammy Awards, Selena was very quickly becoming one of the word's brightest-shining stars in music. Her life and career were put to an end just as quickly as it began when Selena was murdered days before her 24th birthday in 1995. Decades past her death, the legendary singer remains one of the most influential artists of all time.

Selena served as a breakout role for Jennifer Lopez when it was released in 1997. Telling the tragic life story of the world-famous singer, the movie co-starred Edward James Olmos as Abraham, Constance Marie as Selena's mother Marcela, and Jackie Guerra as Suzette. The movie was critically acclaimed and earned Lopez a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.

For Selena: The Series on Netflix, The Walking Dead star Christian Serratos will play Selena with Ricardo Chavira as Abraham, Seidy Lopez as Marcella, Noemi Gonzalez as Suzette, and Garbriel Chavarria as A.B. Quintanilla. The series will follow Selena's life from her childhood to her rise to fame as the Queen of Tejano music. An official trailer was released in October, giving us a good look at what the series will be like. You can watch Selena: The Series when it begins streaming on Dec. 4. This news comes to us from TMZ.