Los Espookys season 2 is almost here, and we have your first look
A little over three years ago, HBO dropped a marvelously weird and surprisingly heartfelt series called Los Espookys into our lives. Created by Fred Armisen, Ana Fabrega and Julio Torres, the primarily Spanish-language comedy follows four friends — Renaldo (Bernardo Velasco), Andrés (Torres), Tati (Fabrega), and her sister Úrsula (Cassandra Ciangherotti) — who launch a business staging horror-themed events and encounters for a wide variety of paying clients. Los Espookys quickly established itself as one of the best shows of 2019, and earned a season 2 renewal soon after the finale.
And then… nothing. Right after season 2 began production, the world shut down — and it was a full two years before the Los Espookys team was able to start the cameras rolling again.
For all the fans who keep frantically googling "Is Los Espookys ever coming back?" we have some wonderful news: Season 2 will arrive Friday, Sept. 16.
The six new episodes feature the return of some fan-favorite characters, including Andrés' personal demon, Sombra del Agua (Spike Einbinder); vain and well-connected American ambassador Melanie Gibbons (Greta Titelman); and Renaldo's uncle Tico (Armisen), a dedicated valet, and his scheming, verbally abusive daughter, Sonia (River L. Ramirez). Watch out for appearances by Oscar-nominated Roma star Yalitza Aparicio — she plays the moon, because of course! — and cinema royalty Isabella Rossellini, who turns in a brilliant performance as herself.
EW has an exclusive first look at the new season below, along with some tantalizingly off-kilter teases from Armisen, Fabrega, and Torres.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How long were you able to be in production for season 2 before you had to shut down due to COVID?
ANA FABREGA: Like a month and a half or so?
JULIO TORRES: Yeah, it was like three-fourths of the way through, almost four out of six episodes.
FRED ARMISEN: And we never knew [when we'd start up again]. Every month was like, "We might come back next month. We might try for September." We never knew. You know how it all went [during the pandemic].
HBO Fred Armisen, Ana Fabrega, Julio Torres, Bernardo Velasco, and Cassandra Ciangherotti on 'Los Espookys'
Over that two-year break, did you have to adapt or change any of the storylines, or were you able to keep the episodes the same?
FABREGA: No, we kept everything as is.
TORRES: We were very lucky and don't take it for granted that all the actors involved were very eager and excited to come back. There was no need to recast a single part. Everyone, regardless of whether they were an up-and-coming local actor in Chile or Yalitza, who's an Oscar-nominated actor, were excited to keep going.
Diego Araya Corvalán/HBO Ana Fabrega on 'Los Espookys'
When last we saw Tati, she had just married cookie magnate Juan Carlos [José Pablo Minor]. And we have a photo of her from season 2 in a very old-fashioned-looking bonnet — what can you tell us about her arc this season?
FABREGA: Tati experiences is the highs and lows of love and decides, "I'm going to take control of my destiny, I'm going to pursue writing." She becomes a successful author, surprisingly enough. So that photo is of Tati at a conference for women in literature. [Her marriage to Juan Carlos] is a deeply troubling relationship. It starts out very wholesome and sweet. And then things escalate.
TORRES: She has troubles in her marriage.
Tico goes on some jobs with Los Espookys this season. Fred, how does he come to join the group?
ARMISEN: He's working in L.A., and more and more people have self-parking cars, so it renders his occupation obsolete. So he and his daughter, Sonia, take a drive down to South America or Central America, wherever this fictional place may be, and he starts to try to fit his life into Los Espookys' life. He takes on different occupations. His daughter, she's very hard on him. But it's a relationship that works for them.
TORRES: They're caught in a cycle for sure.
Diego Araya Corvalán/HBO Bernardo Velasco on 'Los Espookys'
At the end of last season, Renaldo came back to his Los Espookys family after his attempt to make a movie with Bianca Nova [Carol Kane] turned out to be a total disaster. What's ahead for him in season 2?
TORRES: He is haunted by some kind of presence, and he feels compelled to help this mysterious stranger throughout the season and uncover some kind of a mystery.
Julio, your character Andrés ended season 1 with the announcement that he was "graciously transitioning from a little chocolate prince to a little prince in exile." What can you tell us about that, and can you explain the photo of Andrés with a staircase fascinator on his head?
TORRES: Predictably, he's having a hard time adapting to the quote-unquote real world. And he is pushed to find a job, and being a staircase model is one of the few jobs that he was qualified for — so that's what the picture is.
Diego Araya Corvalán/HBO Julio Torres on 'Los Espookys'
When last we saw Úrsula, she had caught the attention of a producer the news series Mira Esto, who plans to turn her into a host/automaton, Gregoria Santos No. 9. Is she in danger this season?
FABREGA: She gets lured into the Mira Esto [studio] under the guise of like a vegan tarot book-swap meetup. Ultimately the attempts to brainwash her fail because she's so stuck in her ways that there's no way of brainwashing her. Then the rest of the season, she dedicates herself to helping elect a new president because she doesn't like how sexist the current president is. He's putting up all these silhouettes of women around town on government signs.
Diego Araya Corvalán/HBO Cassandra Ciangherotti on 'Los Espookys'
Is there anything else you'd like to preview for this season?
TORRES: The show continues to beat its own drum. I feel like the things that people liked about the first season are magnified here in the second.
FABREGA: It feels like a much more mature version of season 1.
ARMISEN: I like how much further we've gotten into not just the characters, but like whatever this fictional place is. Everything has grown deeper, and that's what I love about it.
HBO Cassandra Ciangherotti, Ana Fabrega, Julio Torres, Fred Armisen, and Bernardo Velasco on 'Los Espookys'
Will we ever learn where the show takes place?
ARMISEN: I think it's better if we don't. It's just like a fictional place that exists. In a practical sense, it's mostly because of the accents — we just don't want to have to force ourselves in a corner of get getting an accent from a region exactly right. So it's better if it's a little more mysterious, and also it does add to the mystery of the show in general.
Diego Araya Corvalán/HBO Bernardo Velasco and Fred Armisen on 'Los Espookys'
Season 2 of Los Espookys premieres Friday, Sept. 16, at 11 p.m. ET/PT on HBO.
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