Netflix has released a new teaser trailer for Selena: The Series, revealing the official premiere date along with a good look at The Walking Dead star Christian Serratos in the lead role. Though the preview is brief, it does show us Serratos in character as real-life pop singer Selena Quintanilla-Pérez performing live on stage. "If you keep practicing, pretty soon it's all gonna pay off, just watch," a voice can be heard saying in the black-and-white preview video. The voice also says, "And when I see you on that stage, I still see the six-year-old girl singing in the backyard."
Selena: The Series follows the short life and career of the legendary singer. The limited series will consist of two parts, with the first set of six hour-long episodes debuting on Dec. 4. It will follow Selena's rise to fame from her humble beginnings, focusing on the "difficult and heartbreaking tough choices she and her family make to hold on to love and music." The series was made with the complete blessing of the Quintanilla family, who worked with the filmmakers and Netflix to ensure viewers will be told the full history.
Along with Serratos, Madison Taylor Baez will play a younger version of Selena. Other cast members include Ricardo Chavira, Seidy López, Gabrial Chavarria, Juan Martinez, Noemi Gonzalez, and Daniela Estrada. Moisés Zamora writes the script with Hiromi Kamata serving as the director. Zamora also created the show and serves as an executive producer.
The Queen of Tejano music, Selena is one of the most influential Latin artists of all time. Beginning her career as a professional singer as a small child, she was perhaps destined to be a pop star with success very quick to find her. By the early '90s, she had won a Grammy for Best Mexican/American Album for Live!, becoming the first female Tejano artist to get the honor. Her rise to superstardom came to a screeching halt in 1995 when Selena was murdered by a former friend at the age of 23. Selena is still very missed and remembered by her family and fans, and the late singer was honored with her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2017.
There have been multiple other projects to recreate the story of Selena for the screen. Jennifer Lopez previously played the singer in Selena, a biopic written and directed by Gregory Nava. Edward James Olmos and Constance Marie also starred as Selena's parents. The movie served as the breakout role for Lopez, earning great acclaim and a Best Actress Golden Globe nomination for the actress. Nava had also worked directly with the family when writing the screenplay for the movie, eager to put out an authorized version of the singer's life story. Meanwhile, the TNT series El secreto de Selena was condemned by the Quintanilla family.
Selena: The Series will begin streaming on Netflix when the first six episodes premiere on Dec. 4, 2020. We'll likely see the second half of the limited series drop sometime in 2021. The teaser trailer comes to us from Netflix on YouTube.