Latina-Focused, LGBT-Inclusive 'Vida' Gets Second Season

Vida, created by queer showrunner Tanya Saracho, has been renewed for a second season, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Starz's half-hour drama depicts Mexican-American sisters Emma and Lyn, played by Mishel Prada and Melissa Barrera, coming to collect their share of their late mother's estate, only to learn that a third of it was left to the woman their mother, Vida, had married two years earlier without telling them. Vida had kept her sexuality a secret from her daughters.

With queer Latinx characters at the forefront, Vida celebrates Latinx culture while simultaneously refusing to shy away from topics like patriarchy and homophobia in Latinx communitiea as well as gentrification in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles.

As the first season began, Saracho spoke with The Advocate about using Vida to provide opportunities for mentorship behind the scenes, whether it means creating an all-Latinx writing room, hiring an Afro-Latinx Colombian immigrant as a cinematographer, or helping Latinx filmmakers find agents.

Saracho said Vida showcases a "brown gaze," with fleshed-out depictions of Latinx people that sharply contrast the flimsy portrayals that often come from a white-centered perspective.

"The media has embraced the terminology really well, like 'Latinx,'" Saracho told The Advocate. "We have a nonbinary actor and we refer to them as they/them, and I love that they're using the term 'queer' too. We obviously have that brown female queer gaze, which has not often been seen in the media. It's very specifically female, very specifically brown, very specifically Latinx."

The series has embraced both nonbinary characters and actors. Vida's widow, Eddy, is played by nonbinary Latinx actor Ser Anzoategui, and the show has featured a sex scene between Emma and a nonbinary character named Sam, played by Michelle Badillo.

Vida further explores Emma's identity as a queer woman through her on-and-off relationship with lesbian character Cruz, played by Maria-Elena Laas.

Starz has not determined the return date or episode count.