'13 Reasons Why' actor Brandon Larracuente cast in Freeform 'Party of Five' reboot
24 October 2018, 12:50 | Updated: 24 October 2018, 12:54
'13 Reasons Why' fans will recognise Larracuente as Jeff Atkins in the Netflix series.
13 Reasons Why fans will remember the actor who appeared as the ill-fated Jeff in Season 1 and briefly in Season 2. Viewers were moved by Brandon Larracuente's emotional storyline as Jeff, the baseball player with a heart of gold, who was killed in a tragic car accident.
Brandon Larracuente will return to television with another tragic storyline, this time centred around immigration.
According to Variety, Freeform has ordered a pilot of a planned 'Party of Five' reboot, with Brandon starring as Emilio Buendía. Per the character description, Emilio is "an aspiring musician and the oldest son of Gloria and Javier Buendía. Emilio is the reason his parents crossed the Mexican border into the United States nearly twenty-five years ago in hopes of a better life."
The series plans to chronicle the struggles of the family as they come to grips with the reality of their parents being deported to Mexico. This is a fresh take on the original 90s series which saw the Salinger siblings try to cope after their parents are killed in a car accident.
Brandon Larracuente is set to play the eldest Buendía sibling and will appear alongside Niko Guardado (The Goldbergs), Emily Tosta (Mayans MC), and Elle Paris Legaspi, who will play his younger siblings.
Emily Tosta's character, Lucia, also sounds like an equally dynamic lead. “A straight-A student with lofty college ambitions until her parents run into trouble with immigration. Their circumstances force her to reevaluate her disposition to play by the rules. She quickly becomes resistant to authority, politically radicalized and rebellious to her presumed duties as the oldest sister.”
In a statement, creators of the original series Christopher Keyser and Amy Lippman said, “Today, stories of families being separated, children having to raise themselves in the wake of their parents’ deportations, don’t require any imagination; they are everywhere."
With Freeform's focus on family friendly programming and diversity, the upcoming series sounds like it could fit right into their roster.
