Starz Producer Mireia Acosta and The Mediapro Studio’s Creator Iván Escobar Drill Down on ‘Express’ Season 2
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Starzplay, Starz’s premium international streaming service, and The Mediapro Studio, one of Europe’s biggest indie film-TV producers, are joining forces again to produce the second season of “Express,” the first Starzplay’s original series made in Spain.
Spanish thesps Alejo Sauras (“Estoy vivo”) and “Paradise’s” Laura Laprida are joining the cast of the new season, which is scheduled for a 11-week shoot on location in and around the city of Madrid.
More from Variety
Heading the cast of the series for a second season is actress Maggie Civantos (“Vis a Vis,” “Malaka”), who reprises her character, Bárbara, a criminal psychologist who, after becoming the victim of an express kidnapping, works as a negotiator in similar cases to hers at the private company, Zentral Risk.
“Express” Season 2 will premiere on Starzplay in Spain and Latin America. It marks the first local production from Starzplay to be renewed.
The streamer is creating international originals through co-production opportunities to further curate its lineup.
Mireia Acosta, Starzplay’s development and production executive in Spain, and The Mediapro Studio’s writer and executive producer Iván Escobar, showruner of later season of “Locked Up,” drilled down last week on “Express” Season 2 at one of the Focus Spain panels at Toledo’s Conecta Fiction & Entertainment.
Acosta, who highlighted “the forcefulness of the concept and the clarity of ideas of Escobar,” the series’ creator and showrunner, explained why they greenlit “Express” as their first local original series.
“Starz can’t compete in quantity, the way to compete is not in the number of series but the quality, their relevance, and the way they attract attention. And for whom? For an adult target. We don’t want products for the whole family. That brings us to risky products,” she said.
“It’s a position that makes us very demanding when it comes to ordering titles because we also need them to last at least two seasons. We are left with forceful stories with a new look,” she added.
“What lured me about Starzplay and The Mediapro Studio’s take on the series is that they not only wanted to tell a story but also wanted to tell something that directly challenges us: the moments and the express life to which we are subjected day by day. We use the excuse of express kidnapping to talk about all this,” Escobar argued.
In season two, Barbara (Civantos) will discover that the express kidnappings that they have been tasked to solve are just the tip of the iceberg of an industry built and sustained on fear; and that the company employing them, Zentral Risk, are major players in a far reaching and pervasive system of corruption that will continue to put the lives of her family in increasing jeopardy.
Although everything is not what it appears, Barbara finds hope in the relationship with the new commissar (Sauras) and the Express Team grows with a new member, Asia (Laprida), who has a dark and strange past.
Best of Variety
Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
