Nickelodeon’s Brothers Garcia is the latest series to get the reboot pick up that’s become so popular in recent years. Heading to HBO Max, The Garcias is bringing back original series co-creator Jeff Valdez, and the entire original cast as well.
The original series, which aired on Nickelodeon for four seasons from 2000 to 2004, revolved around a Mexican American family with four kids (three boys and one girl) living in San Antonio, Texas. The reboot will find the Garcia kids all grown up and vacationing with their parents for a three-months in a luxury home by the beach. Ada Maris and Carlos Lacamara are returning in their roles as parents Sonia and Ray Garcia. Alvin Alvarez, Jeffrey Licon and Bobby Gonzalez are back as brothers Larry, Carlos and George, as is Vaneza Pitynski as sister Lorena.
In an interview with Variety, Valdez reveals he relentlessly pursued the “right to mount” a sequel because he sees a clear demand for Latino related family friendly content. “The original show was always about a simple slice of life story that happened in this family,” Valdez said. “In every episode there’s a lesson to be learned. We wanted to keep that simple contract with our audience.”
The series is regarded as a trailblazer for Latino representation. In contrast to how most Latino families are displayed in Hollywood, the Garcias were “comfortable” middle class and they dealt with normal family issues, instead of stories of trauma and violence. “We were the first show to show a middle-class Latino family. It’s still a rare thing,” said Lacamara. “And yet it feels so much more normal for everyone to see this these days.”
The show was also filled with cameos that included Vanessa Hudgens, Danny Trejo, Solange Knowles, Penn Badgley, Brenda Song and Tony Plana, in addition to Ricardo Montalban, Margaret Cho and George Lopez. No confirmation yet if John Leguizamo, who provided the narration as a grown-up Larry, will make an appearance.
The Garcias are back…and it couldn’t have come at a better time.