Disney+/Marvel Studios Moving Up Debut of Season Two of “Loki,” Featuring Rafael Casal

Posted on September 18, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Rafael Casal’s Loki debut is coming one day sooner…

The second season of Disney+/Marvel Studios’ Loki, featuring the 38-year-old part-Spanish and part-Cuban American actor, was originally set to debut on Friday, October 6, but the streamer is following a new rule out of its primetime playbook with Ahsoka and dropping episodes in primetime.

The new premiere date for Loki is October 5 at 6:00 pm PST and all subsequent episodes will drop on Thursday at 6:00 pm PST for the season.

In the new featurette, “The Amazing Loki,” stars Tom Hiddleston, Sophia Di Martino and Ke Huy Quan, along with EP Kevin R. Wright explore what it means to be Loki this season.

The second season picks up in the aftermath of the shocking season finale when Loki finds himself in a battle for the soul of the Time Variance Authority. Along with Mobius, Hunter B-15 and a team of new and returning characters, Loki navigates an ever-expanding and increasingly dangerous multiverse in search of Sylvie, Judge Renslayer, Miss Minutes and the truth of what it means to possess free will and glorious purpose.

Loki season 2 also stars Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Wunmi Mosaku, Eugene Cordero, Casal, Tara Strong, Kate Dickie, Liz Carr, Neil Ellice, Jonathan Majors and Owen Wilson.

Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead, Dan DeLeeuw and Kasra Farahani are the directors for the six-episode series. Eric Martin is the head writer.

Disney+ Releases New Trailer for Season Two of “Loki,” Featuring Rafael Casal’s New Character

Posted on September 4, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

It’s all about time for Rafael Casal.

Disney+ has released a new trailer for Loki Season 2, which will see the 38-year-old part-Spanish and part-Cuban American actor join the cast.

In the preview, Tom Hiddleston’s Loki is being pulled through time and at one point Sophia Di Martino’s Sylvie warns that “everything is turning to sh**.” Jonathan Majors makes an appearance as He Who Remains.

Loki Season 2 picks up in the aftermath of the shocking season finale when Loki finds himself in a battle for the soul of the Time Variance Authority. Along with Mobius, Hunter B-15 and a team of new and returning characters, Loki navigates an ever-expanding and increasingly dangerous multiverse in search of Sylvie, Judge Renslayer, Miss Minutes and the truth of what it means to possess free will and glorious purpose.

Casal’s Loki season two character is reportedly named X-5. He’s a rogue agent of the Time Variance Authority who escaped in the ’70s to become a Hollywood star.

The series also stars Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Wunmi Mosaku, Eugene Cordero, Tara Strong, Kate Dickie, Liz Carr, Neil Ellice, with Ke Huy Quan and Owen Wilson.

Eric Martin is the head writer of the Marvel Studio series with Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead, Dan Deleeuw, Kasra Farahani serving as directors.

Loki Season 2 is set to premiere on October 6 on Disney+.

Eva Longoria’s “Flamin’ Hot” Among SXSW Film & TV Festival Audience Award Winners

Posted on March 20, 2023 by Tom Castaneda

Eva Longoria’s latest project is a flamin’ hot hit in Texas…

The 48-year-old Mexican American actress, producer and director’s directorial debut feature Flamin’ Hot was among the audience award winners revealed Monday for the 31st SXSW Film & TV Festival.

Flamin’ Hot, which stars Jesse Garcia in the sometimes true tale of the man behind the “flamin’ hot”-branded chip revolution, was named the Audience Award winner in the festival’s Headliners section. The film, from Searchlight Pictures, will debut June 9 on both Hulu and Disney+.

Julio Quintana’s The Long Game won for Narrative Spotlight, Rocío Mesa’s Tobacco Barns won the Visions Audience Award Winner prize.

Today’s awards were handed out across 10 film lineups, three Episodic sections for TV content and six short film sidebars.

Among the TV-side winners is the Season 2 premiere of Rafael Casal’s Starz’s Blindspotting was tapped as best of in TV Spotlight.

Here’s the complete list of Audience Awards winners:

Film Program

HEADLINERS
Audience Award Winner: Flamin’ Hot
Director: Eva Longoria; Producer: DeVon Franklin; Screenwriters: Linda Yvette Chávez, Lewis Colick

NARRATIVE FEATURE COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: Mustache
Director/Screenwriter: Imran J. Khan; Producers: Christina Won, Jessica Sittig, Christopher Storer, Tyson Bidner

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: Geoff McFetridge: Drawing a Life
Director/Producer: Dan Covert; Screenwriters: Erik Auli, Dan Covert, Amy Dempsey, Tara Rose Stromberg

NARRATIVE SPOTLIGHT
Audience Award Winner: The Long Game
Director: Julio Quintana; Producers: Javier Chapa, Ben Howard, Marla Quintana, Dennis Quaid, Laura Quaid; Screenwriters: Julio Quintana, Jennifer C. Stetson, Paco Farias

DOCUMENTARY SPOTLIGHT
Audience Award Winner: The Herricanes
Director: Olivia Kuan; Producers: James Lee Hernandez, Brian Lazarte, Lisa France, James Short, Olivia Kuan, Justin Baldoni, Andrew Calof

VISIONS
Audience Award Winner: Tobacco Barns
Director/Screenwriter: Rocío Mesa; Producers: Olmo Figueredo González-Quevedo

MIDNIGHTERS
Audience Award Winner: It Lives Inside
Director: Bishal Dutta; Producers: Raymond Mansfield, Sean McKittrick; Screenwriters: Bishal Dutta, Ashish Mehta

GLOBAL
Audience Award Winner: Ek Jagah Apni
Directors: Ektara Collective; Producers: Ektara Collective, Lotus Visual Productions; Screenwriters: Rinchin, Maheen Mirza

24 BEATS PER SECOND
Audience Award Winner: Louder Than You Think
Director: Jed I. Rosenberg; Producers: Jeffrey Lewis Clark, Brian Thalken, Kelly Thomas; Screenwriters: Jed I. Rosenberg, Greg King

FESTIVAL FAVORITES
Audience Award Winner: No Ordinary Campaign
Director: Christopher Burke; Producer: Tim Rummel, Christopher Burke

Shorts Film Program

NARRATIVE SHORTS COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: Closing Dynasty
Director/Screenwriter: Lloyd Lee Choi; Producers: Jon Hsu, Lloyd Lee Choi

DOCUMENTARY SHORTS COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: Nǎi Nai & Wài Pó (Grandma & Grandma)
Director: Sean Wang; Producers: Sean Wang, Sam Davis

ANIMATED SHORTS COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: Sandwich Cat
Director/Screenwriter: David Fidalgo; Producers: Daniel Rodriguez, Laura Doval, Gonzalo E. Veloso

MIDNIGHT SHORTS COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: Dead Enders
Directors: Fidel Ruiz-Healy, Tyler Walker; Screenwriters: Fidel Ruiz-Healy, Tyler Walker, Jordan Michael Blake, Conor Murphy; Producers: Raven Jensen, Amanda Crown, Gregory Barnes, Conor Murphy, Nico Alvo, Jordan Michael Blake, Eduardo Ruiz-Healy

TEXAS SHORTS COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: Breaking Silence
Directors: Amy Bench, Annie Silverstein; Producers: Monique Walton, Amy Bench

MUSIC VIDEO COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: Drew Ashby – ‘HER’
Directors: Chris Scholar, Bevin Brown; Producer: Bevin Brown

TV Program

TV PREMIERES
Audience Award Winner: The Luckiest Guy in the World
Director: Steve James; Producers: Zak Piper, Steve James

TV SPOTLIGHT
Audience Award Winner: Blindspotting Season 2 Premiere
Showrunner: Rafael Casal, Directors: Rafael Casel, Jess Wu Calder; Producers: Rafael Casal, Daveed Diggs, Jess Wu Calder, Keith Calder, Emily Gerson Saines, Ken Lee, Tim Palen

INDEPENDENT TV PILOT COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: Notarize Me
Director: Erika Rankin; Screenwriters/Producers: Erika Rankin, Brigitte Valdez

XR Experience

XR EXPERIENCE COMPETITION
Audience Award Winner: JFK Memento
Director: Chloé Rochereuil; Producer: Victor Agulhon

XR EXPERIENCE SPOTLIGHT
Audience Award Winner: MLK: Now is the Time
Director: Limbert Fabian; Producers: Matthew O’Rourke, Sulivan Parker; Screenwriter: Andrina Wekontash Smith

XR EXPERIENCE SPECIAL EVENTS
Audience Award Winners (tie):

Neo-Wulin: The Era of Black Ark
Director/Screenwriter: Guanyu; Producers: Chenchenchen, Bingbing Wang

Ristband
Directors: Anne McKinnon, Roman Rappak

Soundwaves: A Metaverse Music Concert
Directors: YOOM, Active Theory

Rafael Casal Lands Major Role in Second Season of Disney+’s Marvel Series “Loki”

Posted on July 18, 2022 by Tom Castaneda

Rafael Casal is joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe…

The 36-year-old part-Spanish and Cuban American actor will appear in a major role in the upcoming second season of Disney+’s Marvel series Loki.

A representative for Marvel declined to comment on the casting, but word of Casal’s addition started trickling out when a photo from the set of Season 2 leaked online.

It features Casal walking alongside Tom Hiddleston and Owen Wilson, who are back, reprising their roles as anti-hero Loki and Mobius, respectively.

Details about Casal’s character are being kept under wraps; online speculation includes a hypothesis that he could be playing Zaniac.

Following strong reviews and record viewing numbers for the original installment, Loki became the first Marvel series for Disney+ to get a second season.

Loki is set in a Marvel Cinematic Universe-adjacent world, in which the God of Mischief is a fish-out-of-water when he lands in trouble with the bureaucratic TVA (Time Variance Authority) after absconding with the Tesseract.

Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead are co-directing a majority of the episodes in the new season. Hiddleston and Michael Waldron, who wrote and served as showrunner in Season 1, executive produce. Eric Martin is penning all six episodes.

Casal, along with Daveed Diggs, co-wrote, produced and starred in the 2018 movie Blindspotting.

The two co-created and executive produce Starz’s Blindspotting series spinoff, which debuted earlier this year, with Casal as showrunner and reprising his role from the movie.

The series, which has been renewed for a second season, earned an Indie Spirit Award and Gotham Award nominations for Best New/Breakthrough series.

Casal’s acting credits also include Good Lord Bird, Bad Education and Are You Afraid of the Dark?

Starz Orders Second Season of Rafael Casal’s “Blindspotting” Series

Posted on October 17, 2021 by Tom Castaneda

Rafael Casal is still blindspotting…

Starz has ordered a second season of the 36-year-old part-Spanish and part-Cuban American actor, writer, producer and showrunner’s Blindspotting.

The first season of the television spin-off sequel of Casal’s acclaimed film premiered in June.

The series centers on Ashley, played by Jasmine Cephas Jones, who was nipping at the heels of a middle class life in Oakland until Miles, her partner of 12 years and father of their son, is suddenly incarcerated, leaving her to navigate a chaotic and humorous existential crisis when she’s forced to move in with Miles’ mother and half-sister.

Casal, who created the series with Daveed Diggs, plays Miles in addition to serving as showrunner.

Benjamin Earl Turner, Atticus Woodward, Jaylen Barron, Candace Nicholas-Lippman, and Helen Hunt also star.

Casal also exec produces alongside Diggs.

“The award-worthy artistry and creativity that Rafael, Daveed and the entire Blindspotting team poured into the series took the comedy genre to a new level and I can’t wait to see what they have in store for season two,” said Jeffrey Hirsch, President and CEO at Starz. “The series deservedly garnered critical acclaim and is a wonderful example of our programming mandate focused on unique, authentic stories by, about and for women and underrepresented audiences.”

“We are overwhelmed by the outpouring of love for season one and have been hard at work for the last few months crafting the next chapter of this Bay story. We are so excited to bring the next season to life with the incredible artistry of our cast and crew, and our partners Starz and Lionsgate. They done fucked around and gave us more runway, so welcome back to the ordeal,” added Casal and Diggs.

Rafael Casal to Reprise His Role in Starz’s TV Adaptation of His Acclaimed Film “Blindspotting”

Posted on December 4, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

Rafael Casal is ready for a repeat performance…

The 35-year-old part Spanish and Cuban American writer, performer and producer will reprise his role in Starz’s television adaptation of Blindspotting, the 2018 feature film from Casal and Daveed Diggs.

The series, a spinoff of the film written and produced by Casal and Diggs, is being turned into a half-hour dramedy. Jasmine Cephas Jones, who starred in the Lionsgate film, will reprise her role and also will serve as a producer. Casal serves as showrunner.

The series centers on Ashley (Cephas Jones), who was nipping at the heels of a middle-class life in Oakland until Miles (Casal), her partner of 12 years and father of their son, suddenly is incarcerated, leaving her to navigate a chaotic and humorous existential crisis when she’s forced to move in with Miles’ mother and half-sister.

Benjamin Earl Turner, Atticus Woodward, Jaylen Barron and Candace Nicholas-Lippman will also join the cast of the eight-part series. Casal will appear on a recurring basis, while Justin Chu Cary, who starred in the film, will play Rob.

Produced by Lionsgate Television, the series will start production in Oakland and Los Angeles.

“Diggs and I are thrilled to continue our partnership with Lionsgate by expanding the Blindspotting world as a series on Starz,” Casal said. “This story, the incredible cast and the production are a dream. We are making the kind of show we have long hoped to see on television, centered around just some of the amazing kinds of characters the Bay Area has to offer.”

Added Diggs: “Figuring out a way to bring The Bay to life in a half-hour comedy space has been so rewarding. Ultimately, this is a story about how a broken prison system affects all of us and, like the film, we’re using comedy to talk about very real systemic effects in the country with the largest prison population in the world.”

Starz Orders Television Spinoff of Rafael Casal & Daveed Diggs’ Film “Blindspotting”

Posted on September 13, 2020 by Tom Castaneda

There’s more blindspotting in Rafael Casal’s future.

Starz has ordered a television spinoff of the 35-year-old half-Latino writer, performer and producer and Daveed Diggs’ feature Blindspotting to series.

Jasmine Cephas Jones, who starred in the original Lionsgate film, will reprise her role and will also serve as a producer.

The film, which was released in 2018, is being spun off as a half-hour dramedy with Casal serving as showrunner in addition to having a recurring role.

Casal and Diggs wrote and produced the feature, as well as starred in it, and will now write and executive produce the television series.

The series centers on Ashley, played by Cephas Jones, who was nipping at the heels of a middle class life in Oakland until Miles, her partner of 12 years and father of their son, is suddenly incarcerated, leaving her to navigate a chaotic and humorous existential crisis when she’s forced to move in with Miles’ mother and half-sister.

“Let us put you up on game, bruh. No description will encompass the complexity of a ‘Blindspotting’ series, ya dig? So just get juiced, ‘cuz it stars Jasmine Cephas Jones, it’s set in Oakland and we’re making it, so it’s lightweight finna to be hella good and the soundtrack will indeed slap. Oh Boy,” said Casal and Diggs.

“Rafael, Daveed and Jasmine created a beautiful film that we believe will translate perfectly into a compelling series for Starz,” added Christina Davis, President, Original Programming, Starz. “This provocative and powerful narrative couldn’t be more timely, and in picking up the story from Ashley’s perspective, we will be able to shine a light on so many of the important social issues that the characters and the audience continue to grapple with.”

Rafael Casal to Appear at This Year’s New York Comic Con for Nickelodeon’s “Are You Afraid of the Dark?” Panel

Posted on September 12, 2019 by Tom Castaneda

Rafael Casal is bringing the scary to the Big Apple…

The 34-year-old half-Latino actor/writer will appear at this year’s New York Comic Con.

Casal will take part in a special panel discussion for Nickelodeon’s Are You Afraid of the Dark? reboot on Friday, October 4 in The Hammerstein Ballroomat the Manhattan Center.

Casal will be joined by fellow stars Lyliana Wray, Sam Ashe Arnold, Miya Cech,Jeremy Ray Taylorand Tamara Smartand the show’s writer/executive producer BenDavid Grabinskias they discuss how Nickelodeon’s iconic horror series has been reimagined for a new generation.

In addition to sharing stories from the making of the limited series, they’ll also show attendees an exclusive clip.

Here’s the panel line-up:

Nickelodeon’s Are You Afraid of the Dark?
Date: Friday, October 4
Time: 2:30 PM – 3:30 PM
Location: The Hammerstein Ballroom at the Manhattan Center
Description: Just in time for Halloween, let’s celebrate the return of the Midnight Society! Light the campfire and grab the Midnight Dust, because we’re telling you the tale of how Nickelodeon’s iconic horror series has been reimagined for a new generation. Featuring stars Lyliana Wray (Top Gun: Maverick), Sam Ashe Arnold (Best. Worst. Weekend. Ever.), Miya Cech (Rim of the World), Jeremy Ray Taylor (It Chapter Two), Tamara Smart (Artemis Fowl), and Rafael Casal (Blindspotting). Writer/Executive Producer BenDavid Grabinski will also be on hand to share stories from the making of the limited series and show an exclusive clip.

Rafael Casal to Write & Direct Lionsgate’s Sci-Fi Rom Com “First Sight”

Posted on October 7, 2018 by Tom Castaneda

Rafael Casal is has set his (first) sights on a new project…

The 33-year-old half-Spanish American actor will write and make his feature directorial debut on Lionsgate’s First Sight, a sci-fi romantic comedy about falling asleep to find the person of your dreams.

Casal will join forces with his Blindspottingco-writer, producer and star Daveed Diggs, and the film’s producers Snoot Entertainment, on the project.

Casal, a musician and poetic who appeared on HBO’s Def Poetry, was recently added to the cast of Bad Education starring Hugh Jackman and Allison Janney.

Rafael Casal Among the Scheduled Speakers at This Year’s Respect Rally

Posted on January 17, 2018 by Tom Castaneda

Rafael Casal is rallying the troops…

The 32-year-old Latino writer and performance poet will be among the speakers at the Respect Rally set to happen at the Sundance Film Festival.

Casal will join a list of speakers that includes Jane Fonda, Common and Gloria Allred.

The mayor of Salt Lake City Jackie Biskupski and Utah Senate candidate Jenny Wilson will also participate in the Park City event on January 20.

Organizers expect around 3,000 to 5,000 attendees on what traditionally is the busiest day at Sundance.

“While the event is very different than last years march, it will have an equally uplifting and energizing feel for all those who attend,” says Cynthia Levine, Respect Rally Park City organizer and organizer of last year’s #MarchOnMain.

As well as the Respect Rally in Park City, gatherings and marches are planned for Los Angeles, New York and other cities on January 20.

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