Miguel Nolla Developing Latin Trap-Themed Series “Trap Queen” for Freeform

Miguel Nolla could be bringing a taste of Puerto Rican music to television.

Freeform has put Trap Queen, a music rich series created by the Puerto Rican Scandal and Roswell, New Mexico writer, in development with Danny Strong executive producing.

Television

An alum of the Disney•ABC Writing Program, Nolla will serve as showrunner on the Puerto Rico-set series.

The drama focuses on a gay young man who returns to Puerto Rico after a life-changing event. With the burgeoning local music scene as both the backdrop and the soundtrack, that move forces him to face family and romantic issues he thought he had left behind and never expected.

Trap music is a tenet of Southern hip-hop that bubbled up into the mainstream in the early 2000s from the likes of T.I., Jeezy and Gucci Mane. The term trap is a derivative of the Atlanta slang for a place where drugs are purchased and sold.

Over the decades the style has been picked up in various forms by artists from Drake, Kendrick Lamar and Cardi B and all the way to Taylor Swift.

Latin trap is the Puerto Rican subgenre that incorporates some of the island’s reggaetón style and other elements.

A former assistant to Shonda Rhimes, Florida State University grad, Nolla’s other credits include an episode of the Grey’s Anatomy web series, Freeform’s Stitchers, Showtime’s Hombre and Netflix’s First Kill, among more.

Gael Garcia Bernal to Star in Jonas Cuaron’s Showtime Thriller Drama Pilot “Hombre”

Gael Garcia Bernalis the man

The 40-year-old Mexican actor/producer has been cast as the lead in Showtime’s thriller drama pilot Hombre, which hails from BAFTA nominee Jonas Cuarón (Gravity).

Gael García Bernal

Garcia Bernal, who won a Golden Globe for his lead role in Mozart in the Jungle, will star alongside Marisé Alvarez (The Vessel), Greg Grunberg (A Star Is Born)Pepi Sonuga (Famous In Love)Adriana Santos (Taken) and newcomer Noah Reyes in the pilot, which is set to begin production at the end of April in Los Angeles.

Created by Cuarón, who also will direct the pilot, Hombre centers on a Mexican-American family man named Marcos Osuna (Bernal) who is living undocumented in the United States. When his wife Leticia is detained by ICE, Marcos, both desperate and resourceful, goes to unprecedented lengths to get her back. The project is an emotional thriller about a man enmeshed in a dangerous double life, contending with powerful forces set on thwarting his unwavering desire to unite his family.

Hombre is a co-production between Showtime and Makeready.

Alvarez will play Marcos’ smart and selfless wife Leticia, whose detention by ICE proves to be the ultimate test on her marriage and close-knit family.

Sonuga will play Adanna, a kind-hearted undocumented immigrant from Nigeria who works with Marcos at a motel. Grunberg will play Norm, a friendly and well-intended ICE trainee. 

Santos will play Leticia’s sister Teresa. Reyes will play Marcos’ and Leticia’s pre-adolescent son Anthony.

Alvarez recently appeared in the feature films The Vessel and Imprisoned, and the Spanish mini-series En el corredor de la muerte. She had her first notable role in the Puerto Rican feature Maldeamores, and starred in Steve Soderbergh’Che: Part One and Che: Part Two.

Santos can be seen in the upcoming film Night Swim directed by Victoria Riverapremiering at Tribeca. Her television credits include Taken, Sweetbitter and Daredevil.

Reyes is a newcomer from Ontario, California. Hombre marks his first television series regular role.