Reggaeton Comedy Series ‘Neon’ From Creator Shea Serrano Coming to Netflix
Reggaeton is in the spotlight with a new upcoming series centered on making it in the music industry
Courtesy of Netflix
Reggaeton is in the spotlight with a new upcoming series centered on making it in the music industry. Streaming service giant Netflix recently announced that it had ordered eight episodes for the first season of Neon, which “focuses on three friends who move from a small town in Florida to Miami with the hopes of making it big in the world of reggaeton,” and explore “not only their larger than life dreams but the harsh comic realities of attempting to make it in the music industry,” according to Deadline. Created by Mexican American author and screenwriter Shea Serrano (Primo), the series is set to feature Latinx talent including Puerto Rican actor Tyler Dean Flores (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, The Dark Knight Rises) and Dominican American actor Emma Ferreira (Learn to Swim, Transplant). Jordan Mendoza (Ziwe, Jigsaw), and Courtney Taylor (Insecure, Abbott Elementary) will also star in the main cast.
“It feels amazing to be an integral part of the cultural composition of a project like this. Leading with intention is my greatest passion, I couldn’t be happier to do this work alongside the incredible Suzy Exposito”, Katelina Eccleston of Reggaeton Con La Gata tells HipLatina. She and music writer Suzy Esposito were both consultants on the show.
“está cabron ser yo 🇵🇷 y’all ready?” said Flores in an Instagram post announcing the news.
Co-star Ferreira added, “vamoooos❤️🔥🇩🇴,” in her celebratory post.
Flores will star in the lead role as as “a budding reggaeton artist who, with the help of his friends, Ness (Ferreira) and Felix (Mendoza) and A&R rep, Mia (Taylor) hopes to become the biggest reggaeton star in the world. Or at least make rent.”
Flores initially made his debut in The Dark Knight Rises, and has since starred in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, The Birthday Cake, and Reefa. Emma Ferreira has starred in other Netflix projects in the past including Learn to Swim. Next, she will appear in Netflix’s Unstable alongside Fred Armisen.
The series was created by Serrano, who will also serve as executive producer. He is known for being the first Mexican American to appear on the New York Times best-seller list three times for his books, The Rap Year Book (which became an AMC docuseries), Basketball (And Other Things), and Movies (and Other Things). He also created another upcoming TV series Primo, based on his experiences growing up in San Antonio, which will be released on Amazon’s Freevee.
“When you’re growing up on the south side of San Antonio, you can go, like, paint houses. You could work at a tire shop. Like, I didn’t see writing until years and years and years later. Again, this was not, like, the intended career that I had,” he said in a previous interview with NPR. “So I’m just straight up Googling work-from-home jobs. Writer was one of them that came up, and I was like, all right, cool. I got Internet and a computer. And I guess I’ll give that a try. And there you go.”
No release date for Neon has been announced yet but the eight-episode series will be available to stream on Netflix.
