Blindspotting: Starz releases trailer for new series
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Rafael Casal recently spoke exclusively to Express.co.uk about his role as co-writer and star of the brand new drama series on Starz, Blindspotting. Reuniting with Hamilton breakout Daveed Diggs, the star admitted the co-creators originally planned to leave the film as a standalone story.
Blindspotting star Rafael Casal has confirmed he and his writing partner Daveed Diggs were initially reluctant to return to the world of their original 2018 film.
Casal and Diggs wrote the film over nine years and co-starred as best friends Miles and Collin in the critically acclaimed social drama.
Premiering on Starz on June 13, the new sequel series jumps ahead by six months after Miles is incarcerated for drug possession.
Three episodes in, and the ongoing drama has received just as much acclaim as the co-writers and executive producers’ original film.
However, when asked why they wanted to continue the story, Casal admitted: “Well, we didn’t think that!
“We were done, we loved that movie as it is. We were trying to move on to other projects.”
Since his breakthrough role in the original film, Blindspotting’s co-lead has since starred alongside Hugh Jackman in the drama film Bad Education.
Both of the actors have also appeared in the miniseries The Good Lord Bird, while Casal is set to make his directorial debut with the sci-fi film First Sight.
Meanwhile, Daveed Diggs has taken the lead in TNT’s popular drama, Snowpiercer, and landed a role in Disney’s upcoming remake of The Little Mermaid.
With their sights on future projects, Casal continued: “But Lionsgate, who distributed the film, really wanted to continue the story. So, we reluctantly took a meeting with them to tell them we didn’t want to do it.
“But on the drive there, Daveed and I were like, ‘is there any way that we would actually say yes to this?’”
Casal then detailed a lengthy list of demands, including letting Jasmine Cephas Jones’ supporting character from the film, Ashley, take centre stage.
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The continuing Starz series also includes a number of new characters to the world of Blindspotting, including Helen Hunt as Miles’ mother, Rainey.
Moreover, the TV sequel features several surreal elements not included in the original film.
Casal explained: “If we could introduce a bunch of new characters, we’d do that.
“And if we could do, like, dance numbers and a bunch of verse, then we would do it our own way.
“We walked in the room very cocky, and we were like, ‘alright, let’s shut this down’.”
Rather than admitting defeat, Lionsgate took Casal and Diggs’ ideas in their stride, and Starz issued a straight-to-series order for the first season.
Finally, Casal recalled: “We were ready to get pushed out of the room, and instead they were like, ‘actually yeah, that sounds great. We should do that.’”
Thankfully, the writing pair also agreed to sign on, and they managed to keep the story just as fresh and inventive as the original film.
The ongoing series is still in its early stages, but Blindspotting is already looking like a strong contender for one of the best TV debuts of 2021.
Blindspotting continues Sundays on STARZ and is available to watch on STARZPLAY via Amazon Prime Video.
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