Enkyboys Star Brice Gonzalez Cast in George Lopez’s New Show ‘Lopez vs. Lopez’
Six-year-old Brice Gonzalez, a famous TikTok star who runs the Enkyboys page with his 34-year-old father Randy, has been cast as George Lopez’s grandson in the upcoming NBC sitcom “Lopez vs. Lopez.” The show got a series order from NBC in May of this year and is set to debut on Nov. 4, according to NBC.
Similar to “George Lopez,” which ran from 2002 to 2007 and made the comedian a household name, the new show will be heavily based on George’s real-life experiences and even stars his previously estranged daughter, 26-year-old Mayan. NBC describes the show as “a working-class family comedy about dysfunction, reconnection and all the pain and joy in between.”
Brice and Randy’s Enkyboys page is a TikTok phenomenon, boasting more than 15.3 million followers, nearly 300 million likes and billions of views since they launched the page in November 2019. Brice announced his involvement with “Lopez vs. Lopez” in an Instagram post on Aug. 15, which Randy confirmed shortly after, reports My San Antonio.
In an exclusive interview with the outlet, Brice said in an email, “I’m so happy to be here doing this show,” adding, “I never thought I would be doing a show, even though I have always wanted to and now I’m actually doing it and I’m so happy. It feels good to be doing this! Thank you, God, for giving me this opportunity!”
The show, which stars George, 61, and is based on many of his own experiences, will be helmed by co-creators Bruce Helford and Debby Wolfe, who recently collaborated on ABC’s “The Conners” in the wake of Roseanne Barr’s departure. Helford was even a co-creator on the original “George Lopez” show and will serve as executive producer alongside Wolfe, reports Deadline.
The idea for the project actually came from Wolfe, a Salvadoran American writer who pitched the idea to George and Mayan Lopez, following their reconnection. Based on NBC’s description, their estrangement and subsequent rekindling will play a major role in the show’s dynamics.
The father-daughter pair rekindled their relationship due to the COVID-19 pandemic and found themselves growing closer because of the lockdowns. “It’s so crazy to think that really two years ago, we weren’t really speaking regularly, if at all,” Mayan revealed. ”With the show, I’m having similar conversations, hard conversations that I’ve had with him or struggled to have with him — and now we’re doing it on TV for millions of people to see,” reports SheKnows.
In an interview with People, George revealed the circumstances surrounding their increasingly strained relationship, including his divorce with Mayan’s mother, Ann Serrano, in 2011. “We spent years when we didn’t talk,” he said. Mayan, who has made peace with the familial struggles she’s faced over the years, added, “We all love each other, but we have our own dysfunction like any family after a divorce.”
Brice, the show’s youngest addition, is enduring family problems of his own. According to another article posted on MySA, Brice’s father Randy revealed a stage-four colon cancer diagnosis on the Enkyboys TikTok page earlier this year. Randy confirmed that he’s been battling the disease for six months and was told by his doctors in early August that the tumors are going down.
As of right now, Randy has been given a timeline of around five years if he opts to move forward with chemotherapy. The family’s social media followers came through for him and raised enough money to cover Randy’s initial medical costs. A GoFundMe page for the family has received $250,000 in donations. He is now being treated at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, renowned as one of the state’s best cancer hospitals.
Brice, on the other hand, is seeing a newfound level of success as a result of the Enkyboys page. In addition to the “Lopez vs. Lopez” casting news, Brice was also cast in the Eva Longoria film “Flamin’ Hot,” a biopic that tells the true story of Frito-Lay janitor Richard Montañez, who claims to have invented Flamin’ Hot Cheetos in his kitchen at home. Brice has been cast as one of Montañez’s sons, and the project is set to debut sometime this year.
His parents, Randy and Kimberly, couldn’t be happier. “It is a great feeling to see our son doing incredible things in the industry with such icons,” they said. “Growing up being a huge fan of George Lopez and now Brice actually working with George and his daughter and creating friendships is just a dream come true! We are just so happy for him and truly blessed!”
