Selena Quintanilla-Pérez—better known as simply Selena—was a goddamn legend, a pioneering Latin artist who redefined the male-dominated world of Tejano music back in the 90s. She was the genre’s first female superstar, winning a Grammy at 21 and selling more albums than any other woman in Latin music history. Good news for all the folks still (rightly) bumping the hell out of “Como La Flor” and “Bidi Bidi Bom Bom” out there: Netflix just announced it’s making a scripted series about the icon, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
The show, somewhat unimaginatively titled Selena: The Series, will apparently be a coming-of-age story about the pop star, model, actress, designer, and otherwise-hyphenated boss lady’s life, chronicling her rise from a no-name singer in her dad’s Texas restaurant to the internationally renowned “Queen of Tejano music,” all before she was tragically killed in 1995 at just 23. Netflix tapped Selena’s family to help produce the series, including her sister Suzette, who played drums in Selena’s first band, and their father Abraham Quintanilla, who managed it.
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“Selena will always have a lasting place in music history and we feel great responsibility to do justice to her memory. With this series, viewers will finally get the full history of Selena, our family, and the impact she has had on all of our lives,” Suzette said in a statement to THR. “We are excited to partner with Campanario and Netflix to give fans a never-before-seen glimpse at our story and highlight why Selena will remain a legend for generations to come.”
Details on exactly what the series will look like are scant—there’s not much word on the plot, and it’s unclear if we’re in for half-hour or hour-long episodes—but there’s a wealth of material to mine from Selena’s life. She spent years touring in her family’s beat-up van in Texas, where she and her band Los Dinos were often refused gigs because they featured a female lead singer. Tejano, or Tex-Mex music, had always been dominated by men, but Selena changed that with chart-topping albums like Entre a Mi Mundo and hits like “Como La Flor,” taking the genre mainstream in a way no male artist had been able to. Along the way, she launched a fashion line, dabbled in modeling, became a spokeswoman for Coke, and eloped with her guitarist—all of which is to say her story is, you know, pretty fucking wild.
Selena, which doesn’t have a premiere date just yet, will be written by Moisés Zamora, who’s executive producing alongside Jaime Davila of Campanario Entertainment.
“Selena’s career achievements are legendary,” Davila told THR. “But our scripted series will focus on the incredible story of a Mexican-American family and how an extraordinary young woman transcended categories and borders to become a global star.”
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