The year is 1646. We’re in the colonial coastal settlement of Cartagena. A young black woman is about to burned at the stake in the plaza at the stone-built fort of the Colombian city. A man is outlining the reasons why women are feared and to be so punished: because they tempt, because they seduce, because they think. Quick flashbacks show us the same young woman madly in love in the cover of darkness. And so, surrounded by a throng of onlookers (rich white Spaniards wearing too many clothes to handle the heat, black slaves with ragged clothes looking on in despair) Carmen, this so-called witch, is burned alive.
What might be the end of another story is just the beginning of this Colombian Netflix production. Siempre Bruja picks up in 2019 when Carmen emerges from the ocean without having aged a day. The supernatural show, which just released its first teaser, will follow Carmen’s life as she adjusts to our modern world — selfies, cars, and neon-tinged parties included. Clearly giving us a different spin on bruja tales that are soon gonna take over our small screens (see: Charmed and The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, both out later this Fall), this Netflix original is sure to dive into Afro-Colombian culture like no show before it.
Catch newcomer Angely Gaviria alongside a few more recognizable names, including telenovela star Verónica Orózco and Youtuber Dylan Fuentes in the drum-scored trailer below and find out why the saying, once a witch, always a witch is more than a tagline for this young adult show.
Siempre bruja is coming to Netflix in 2019.