‘Vida’ season 3 will be its last showrunner Tanya Saracho says

“Vida,” the groundbreaking Starz series that showcases compelling queer Latinx stories and characters, will end its run with its third season, creator and showrunner Tanya Saracho said Wednesday.

Saracho, who identifies as queer, broke the news in a letter to supporters of the series.

The third and final season of “Vida” was filmed in Los Angeles and was written by an all-Latina writers’ room and directed by Latina directors Jenée LaMarque and Saracho.

“I have not been able to write this letter — every time I try my palms get sweaty, my heart does a cumbia beat and I get nauseous,” Saracho said in the letter. “It’s taken me days. Because no matter how you slice it, this is a farewell letter.”

On Starz’s ‘Vida,’ queer Latinx character from Ser Anzoategui shines

Vida” will return April 26 on Starz with six episodes. In the final episodes, Emma and Lyn finally have success in their lives. The bar business is booming and their love lives are flourishing.

Then it all comes to a halt when the Hernandez sisters discover a long buried family secret that ruins their hard fought victories. 

As a result, the sisters find themselves face-to-face with old ghosts and new enemies. Also, they have to decide if they can continue together as a family or should they move on, but this time for good.

Vida Season 3

Ser Anzoategui stars as Eddy in the Starz series “Vida.” Photo: Starz.

Here is Saracho’s full letter.

I have not been able to write this letter — every time I try my palms get sweaty, my heart does a cumbia beat and I get nauseous. It’s taken me days. Because no matter how you slice it, this is a farewell letter. So I’ll get that part out of the way: Season Three will be VIDA’s final season. Rather than dwell on the ‘hows’ and the ‘whys,’ what I’m burning to get to is the ‘thank-you’ part. That’s the part that’s making my chest ache.

When I began this journey three and a half years ago, I never dreamed that by the end of the process I’d be so wholly changed — mind, body and spirit — and that I’d be standing so strongly in my abilities to run and create a TV show the way it should have always been created: By us. When I started this, the landscape was a bleak one for Latinx representation. In the television landscape, the narratives about us were few and far between and were stuck on stereotypical. And I had only heard of one Latina showrunner who’d been allowed to run a show solo. Also for brown queers, there was truly no representation.

This is where the thank-yous begin: Because you championed our delicate and darling little series, we were gifted three beautifully compelling, trailblazing seasons of television. Sincerely, this is why I wanted to personally write this letter, to express that your support has meant everything. It has meant two renewals and validation that our brown narrative is worth telling. I will never be able to thank you enough for your reception and endorsement. Truly.

This goodbye is too bittersweet for words. I’d be lying if I said I’m not sad about not getting back into that magical writers room to keep crafting our story. But after all, I got to tell the exact story I wanted to tell, exactly how I wanted to tell it, and that is rare in this industry. I leave steeped in gratitude. Thankful to Starz for not just allowing VIDA to happen, but for being great co-parents as we raised her together. And grateful for the collaborators whose careers we were able to launch: Latinx cinematographers, writers, actors — almost entirely female — who are now out there and in demand. What a beautiful family we built. And what a beautiful show.

Mil gracias. I do hope you’re able to give this, our last season, a good send off, because let me tell you, it is a powerful one. It is just as compelling as ever with some imagery and themes I’ve never seen on television before. I’m profoundly proud of it.

Servidora,

Tanya Saracho

About the author

Phillip Zonkel

Award-winning journalist Phillip Zonkel spent 17 years at Long Beach's Press-Telegram, where he was the first reporter in the paper's history to have a beat covering the city's vibrant LGBTQ. He also created and ran the popular and innovative LGBTQ news blog, Out in the 562.

He won two awards and received a nomination for his reporting on the local LGBTQ community, including a two-part investigation that exposed anti-gay bullying of local high school students and the school districts' failure to implement state mandated protections for LGBTQ students.

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