Last year, Freeform announced plans to reboot the popular ’90s family drama Party of Five for a new audience. The new series takea the basic premise of the original drama and revitalizes it with a Latino cast. Now, after a producing a successful pilot, Freeform has announced the show is going to series with a 10-episode order.
The original series ran from 1994-2000 and followed the Salingers, five siblings who band together after their parents die in a car crash. Original Party of Five showrunners Chris Keyser and Amy Lippman are returning for this new incarnation which puts a “modern twist” on things, turning the Salingers into the Acostas, five siblings struggling to make things work after their parents are deported back to Mexico. The cast will include Nuyorican actor Brandon Larracunte as Emilio, the eldest Acosta; Venezuelan-Dominican actress Emily Tosta as the rebellious Lucia; Niko Guardado as Beto; and Elle Paris Legaspi as Valentina.
Interestingly, it looks like the series has undergone some changes since being announced four months ago. Initially, the family was being referred to as the Buendías and now they’re the Acostas. Costa Rican-Panamanian-American screenwriter Michal Zebede wrote the pilot script while Rodrigo Garcia is listed as director and executive producer. Hopefully these aren’t the only two Latinos working behind the camera, especially considering other Latinx reboots like Charmed and Magnum P.I. have already been called out for their predominately white writers rooms.
There’s currently no release date for Freeform’s Party of Five reboot.