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‘Selena: The Series’ Part Two Details Singer’s Struggles With Fame

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Selena Quintanilla-Pérez would have celebrated her 50th birthday this year. Instead, she remains forever frozen in time as the vivacious, beautiful, gifted Queen of Tejano Music that she was at the time of her death at just 23 years-old on March 31, 1995.

Executive produced by the Quintanilla family, Netflix’s NFLX two-part 18-episode Selena: The Series tells the singer’s story in more detail than the two-hour 1997 Jennifer Lopez-helmed blockbuster movie was able to do. The roughly 12-hour series gives fans a real behind-the-scenes look into Selena’s life.

The nine-episode second part premieres today, exactly five months after part one premiered in December. The first part focused on the Quintanilla family’s early years and musical start. Before the world knew Selena’s name she was a young girl from Texas with big dreams and an even bigger voice.

The story picks up as Selena is on the brink of stardom. The now famous songstress is happy in her career and is very much in love but along with fame comes a lot of new challenges. Here two of the show’s stars talk about how much they learned about the family’s bumpy road to success.

“The show is definitely more uplifting and brighter than I thought it was going to be,” said Christian Serratos, who portrays Selena, in a recent phone interview. “There was so much more to her than I knew prior to working on this project.”

One thing Serratos quickly discovered was just how funny Selena was. “I also realized that we have same sense of humor. Seeing this and how great her family life was made me realize why we’re doing the show. I was such a fan growing up and I realized that there are just so many things to learn about her and I think that was the point.”

Fans of the Grammy-winning singer continue to enjoy her English and Spanish hits with more than 213 million streams on Spotify this year alone. Selena is regarded as the most successful female Latin artist of all time. Her fifth and final studio album was her crossover Dreaming of You which was released posthumously in July 1995. The album made history as one of the bestselling Latin albums of all time with millions of copies sold. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified it 59× platinum (Latin field) and the album was eventually certified gold.

Her legion of fans also contributed to Part One’s huge success; episodes one through nine trended No. 1 in both the U.S. and Latin American markets. The series sat atop the streamer’s Top 10 list its first seven consecutive days on the platform.

“What I loved about playing her was that she was like everyone,” adds Serratos. “She was very complex. Nothing was perfect in her life but she was one of those people who made everything into something she could learn from or find joy in. I loved that about her. It was an incredible thing. She found joy in the struggles and the people around her. We’d be doing a scene and I would think about how she was having so much fun in this moment so I need to be having fun in this moment. It made me kind of childlike.”

Gabriel Chavarria, who portrays Selena’s brother A.B. Quintanilla in the series, said in a recent phone interview that he learned just how talented and integral he was to the family’s success. “I learned how much of the songwriting he did. He wrote so many of her hits! He’s a musical genius.”

But, he adds, it truly was a family business. “Each member was vital to the band’s success. One thing that’s so beautiful to know about them is that they always took care of each other.”

As one of 11 children born to Honduran immigrants, Chavarria can relate to Selena’s close family dynamic. “The details of their story and their struggles are so inspirational. And then their eventual success, well it’s incredible. What was really eye-opening was their overall tightness as a family. They just wouldn’t let anyone stop them from achieving their goals.”

Both Serratos and Chavarria hoped to meet the Quintanilla family during filming but neither had the opportunity. After the series wrapped production, however, each had the chance to connect with a family member.

“I met Suzette. She was the only one,” says Serratos. “She was happy with how it turned out. All I wanted to do was to honor Selena. For the rest of my life, I’ll be grateful for that. Selena and her family did so much for their community. You felt you knew them and that was part of the magic.”

Chavarria said plans were made at various points but things kept getting pushed and then the pandemic made scheduling an in-person meeting challenging. “I did speak with A.B. on the phone after filming wrapped and we’ve been close friends since. We definitely talk a lot.” The two have yet to meet but plans are in the works.

As for A.B., Chavarria says he was extremely happy with how the show turned out. “He told me it really took him back in time. To me, this was the cherry on top. The fact the family loved the show, well that’s just the ultimate right there.”

Selena: The Series comes from executive producers Jaime Dávila, Rico Martinez, Hiromi Kamata, Suzette Quintanilla, Simran A. Singh and Moises Zamora. It was created by Zamora with Don Todd (This is Us) consulting. Serratos and Chavarria star alongside Ricardo Chavira, Noemí Gonzalez, Seidy López, Jesse Posey, Julio Macias and Natasha Perez.

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