HBO Max Highlights Next Generation of ‘The Brothers García’ in New Follow Up Series ‘The Garcias’
While many have been looking to Netflix to find the old series we used to watch, there are some shows that remain lost to many fans.
Nickelodeon’s hit series from the early 2000s “The Brothers García” was one of those shows, a fading memory that occasionally showed up on Nickelodeon reruns. But now after 20 years, the show is coming back as “The Garcias” thanks to a push from the show’s producer and HBO Max.
“The Brothers García,” which aired from 2000 to 2004, told the story of your everyday middle-class Latino family with four kids in San Antonio, Texas. At the time, the series was revolutionary because it was considered the first sitcom to have an all Latino cast. Plus, the creative team brought much-needed Latino representation to the industry, presenting the life of Latinos through the eyes of Latinos.
Fast forward to 2022 and “The Garcias” tells a slightly different story. The kids now have kids of their own and the family is on a long vacation in Mexico. But all of our favorite characters from the original series are still part of the cast: Ada Maris plays Sonia García, Carlos Lacámara plays Ray García, Alvin Alvarez stars as Larry García, Jeffrey Licon plays Carlos García, Bobby Gonzalez plays George Garcia and Vaneza Pitynski plays Lorena Garcia.
It seems like the actors are excited to be back, too!
Bobby Gonzalez told Yahoo News: “As a kid, when I was making it, I knew that we were doing something special, but I didn’t really understand how it was special until after the show came out and people would either come up to me or I would see it on like a YouTube comment or something. People would say, ‘This show is so important to me because I got to see myself represented. I got to see you a brown person on screen or a Mexican on-screen, or whatever your background is.”
Gonzalez said that these types of comments meant that the show was really significant for many in the Latino community because it showed that Latinos were normal people, so when the producer Jeff Valdez called him to bring back the show he was completely on board with the project.
Valdez echoed this sentiment in an interview with Forbes saying that a lot of shows about Latinos didn’t have all Latinos behind them, so it was important to bring back a show that was made for and by Latinos. He also mentioned that showing the diversity of the Latino community is key to bringing the show back stating “We had one guy say, why are they going to live in such a nice house? I’m like, what’s wrong with that? I live in Beverly Hills.”
After 10 years of trying to get the show back on the air, Valdez has finally achieved it, allowing viewers to catch up with the Garcia’s after an almost 20-year hiatus.
“The Garcias” season 1 is now streaming on HBO Max.
