Ana María Orozco is preparing for an Ugly return…
The 50-year-old Colombian actress will reprise her role in Betty La Fea, a sequel to the hit Colombian telenovela Yo Soy Betty, La Fea.
But Orozco, who portrayed Beatriz “Betty” Aurora Pinzón Solano in the original, won’t be the only person making a return in the sequel.
Jorge Enrique Abello, who portrayed Eco Moda CEO Armando Mendoza Sáenz, will also reprise his iconic role in Betty La Fea, which will debut on Amazon’s Prime Video in 2024.
Produced by Colombia’s Estudios RCN for Prime Video, the third season of the series picks up Betty’s story 20 years later when she’s a successful woman, mother and wife.
Still married to Armando (Abello) and trying to rebuild her relationship with her adolescent daughter, she battles the economic crisis of her family company and wonders whether the path she has chosen in life has really made her happy.
Directed by Mauricio Cruz Fortuna, Betty la Fea is written by Marta Betoldi, Juan Carlos Pérez and César Betancur.
The original series is hailed as the most successful telenovela of all time, having sold worldwide and spawning 20 remakes, the latest in South Africa.
The series’ overnight success was a testament to Orozco’s endearing performance and the talent of its creator, the late Fernando Gaitan, who imbued its characters with such universal humanity that they still resonate with young generations two and a half decades later. Rebelliously tender Betty transformed the world around her and with her Gaitan found a poignant twist to the Ugly Duckling trope.
“This is, I think, an homage to Fernando’s work. I’ve witnessed how this incredible writer’s room has taken his legacy and we’ve tried with immense care and respect to live up to the task. It is a huge challenge but I think we are in good hands,” Orozco commented.
She added “Even though Betty was so advanced for its time, there’s many elements that are very much from its time, from our culture, from our idiosyncrasy, issues that now, 20 years later we can address, to have a dialogue with a modern audience. I feel that her essence hasn’t changed but precisely because of this Betty surely poses many questions, She is now more mature, but life for a woman in her forties is never an easy challenge.”
“Yo soy Betty, la fea had a healthy energy, and the character an enormous impact on conventional beauty codes which explains why it became a global franchise with which all women can relate,” said Francisco Morales, who leads Prime Video’s team of contents strategy and acquisitions for Latin America.
