Alice Braga talks about her role on "Queen of the South."
For the past 6 years, Alice Braga gave life to Teresa Mendoza, the protagonist of the USA Network hit series Queen of the South, based on the best-selling novel La Reina del Sur, by internationally acclaimed Spanish author Arturo Pérez-Reverte. A previous adaptation of the book was a hugely successful series on sister network Telemundo.
Queen of the South, which follows the evolution of a woman who is forced to run from the Mexican cartel to her rise as the head of a drug trafficking empire, was shot in multiple locations around the world, including Mexico City, Malta and Colombia, before landing in New Orleans. The action drama's fourth season ranked as Thursday's No. 1 scripted series on ad-supported cable in the 9 p.m. slot among the key adults 18-49 demo, as well as total viewers. The series last aired in August 2019.
The fifth season, delayed amid the pandemic, returns for its final run on April 7 at 10 pm ET. Dailyn Rodriguez and Ben Lobato are back as showrunners for their second season, following the departure of Natalie Chaidez, who had previously taken over from original showrunner Scott Rosenbaum.
I spoke with Alice Braga, star and executive producer of the show, about the importance of Latinos in decision-making roles in Hollywood, the end of the series, working amid a pandemic, and what she'll miss most about working on Queen of the South.
Scene from "Fantasmas" Episode 501. Alice Braga as Teresa Mendoza.
The pandemic pushed back production of Queen of the South. Besides the logistics, did it change the course of the series?
No, actually it didn't. We got shut down when we were shooting episode one and two. So when they shut us down, we knew it was our final season. I was very nervous, because I was so excited to finish the cycle in the sense of telling this story. So when we got shut down, we had the script, so we just carried on through the shutdown, working on the script and getting ready to come back. What was really beautiful in a way, was that the crew was so committed...so it was such a powerful comeback. After six months being shut down, we had to trust each other even more. What I love about what we do in movies and in the TV world is that you don't do it by yourself. You do it as a team. That's the only way for our success in this craft: to do it as a team.
It took a lot of effort from everybody here in New Orleans and in Los Angeles, from the studio from the network everybody to work together to do as safe as possible but also to bring the experience that the fans deserve that they don't feel COVID on camera. That's what we wanted. So they could feel and experience the Queen of the South that we know. There's a lot of action. There's a lot of tension. There's a lot of excitement. And I think the fans are going to be very happy with it. I think we brought a lot of trust in each other to be able to finish this final stretch to the finish line.
How did it feel to get back to work on set?
It feels good. In the beginning it was weird just because COVID. But...it was so important to trust each other and to work as a team more than anything. And I do believe that the only way out of COVID in my opinion is to work as a community to bond that trust and to t aim together for the same goal.
It was scary in the beginning, but we got into a flow. I really am very impressed by the material that we got that we don't see on camera - that we're shooting during COVID. And I think that was just amazing, especially for the actors that we cannot mask. The crew was super committed and made me feel so safe and protected. I'm really thankful to both the studio and the network that made this possible that really gave us what we needed to finish.
What did you learn from the pandemic and how did it affect you personally?
I've been through this path, I think especially, because of my environmental activism and all that [she recently partnered with Greenpeace on a video series about the environmental impacts of the industrial food system, among other things], through really looking deep into the changes that we need to make as human beings for the environment - for our own future, for everybody, for the entire world.... So I've been through this kind of looking after other people and trying to make change for our own future.
I think COVID came to show us that together we are stronger and we can only go through this if we protect each other and if we work as a community and I think that's even stronger in my heart, to look more at people and to appreciate people and to protect others. I think we need to have that in our hearts and minds.
You're also executive producer in the series. How important was that role for you and how important do you think is having Latino writers and producers working on this and other series in Hollywood?
I think it's really important and crucial to make change. Having Latinos in front of the camera is important, because...when they're watching the show, they can see themselves in it. There's such a huge Latino community, but if we don't have Latinos in the director's chair, if we don't have Latinos in the writers room, in the decision making rooms, meaning executive producers, you also don't get certain stories told from that point of view. And I think that's very important. For these stories to be told, we need to fill every room. And I think it's very important to make those changes, because otherwise we are only going to have stereotyped stories about Latinos And we're so diverse. There's so many stories to be told that I think it's very important for that representation to exist.
To be able to be executive producer in Queen of the South was a huge honor, because I was always so involved. My passion was so big for this character and for this book and the story of this woman, Teresa Mendoza, that I was always very involved in her journey...and how she would breathe and how she would respond to every single situation she was put in. And being able to be invited to the discussions of the scripts before shooting, it was really wonderful, because we could shape it in a very powerful way and very inclusive way. So it was really, really wonderful.
How were you able to change your character's narrative?
She starts the show as the girlfriend to this drug dealer. She's very naive and she's not much aware of what's going on. She's very much into her own little world with her friends and living this fairy tale dream. And then, suddenly, she receives a phone call and everything changes and she's being pulled into this situation. But she's been a survivor in Culiacan in Mexico since she was a teenager, since she was a child. So I feel that Teresa is a character that never victimizes herself. She knows how to push forward...her main goal is to be safe and survive, and I think that will to survive is what made her go through to the end. Of course, ambition got in the way. She figures out that for her to be protected in a world like this, where she’s involved, she just needs to be empowered...and get to this end, which is the final line that she's really taking this stand to say I'm done playing games. That's it. Now I'm the boss.
I think we created an arc to get to that point that she is finally the boss and she's that woman that, in a way, she thought she would never become, and she does. So it's a very interesting arc, but I always felt that she never lost her heart, even though life changes, she always tried to follow her instincts. And I try to keep that.
I tried to create a character that would be not only the clichéd type of drug dealer that is mean or that becomes just a killer....I try to create layers to try to understand her without judging her and not making her a good person, because she's not. She's the antihero. But at the same time, she's the hero for her whole life, because she's a survivor. And I think I try to create that so the audience could connect with her and see the world through her eyes.
What are you going to miss most about the show and this experience?
I think definitely the crew, it's been a huge part of it. Even if we moved from Dallas to New Orleans, there was a feeling of commitment. And I think everybody that came on board felt so much like a family, even though we were doing such hard scenes, violent drug dealing, guns shoot all of that. It was such a warm set to be involved. That's definitely something I'm going to miss, because once you are involved in the storyline, like with the makeup artist, with everyone, they become part of it.... And I feel the character, I think it was such a powerful, strong woman to play from point A to point B, so different. I think that journey creating that, I'm definitely going to miss it. And I must say I'm excited for the end just because I feel that we completed. And I think the fans are going to be happy with that arc that we were able to create, like to have five seasons of the show, it's such a blast and such an honor that I'm definitely going to miss it, because it was a big part of my life. It's been quite a ride.
The final season of Queen of the South debuts on USA network on April 7 at 10 p.m.
