- Julio Torres and Ana Fabrega are the stars and creators of HBO's comedy "Los Espookys."
- The series, which aired its season finale Friday, follows a group of horror lovers in an unnamed Latin American country.
Set in an unnamed Latin American country and following an eccentric group of friends whose love for all things supernatural knows no bounds, HBO's "Los Espookys" is one of the most interesting comedies on television today.
Comedians Julio Torres and Ana Fabrega created the show with former "Saturday Night Live" star Fred Armisen, and all three also star in the series. Torres plays Andres, the disillusioned young heir to a chocolate fortune with a killer wardrobe and a penchant for dramatics; Fabrega plays Tatí, whose childlike disposition equally frustrates and amuses those around her; and Armisen plays Tico, a former valet who leaves Los Angeles and returns to central America after cars with automated parking render his job obsolete.
Season two of the critically-acclaimed series, which premiered on HBO in September and aired its finale ("El Eclipse") on Friday, sees the Espookys encountering new challenges in both their personal and professional lives. (Kim Petras and Yalitza Aparicio guest star in several episodes.) And while several of the characters on the show are openly queer (both Torres and Fabrega also don't identify as straight), identity politics never overshadow the show's signature blend of surrealism and humor.
"I think that there's definitely an expectation from the industry and from media outlets in general that people of any sort of minority status will, like, explain to the rest of the world what it's like to be that," Torres said in a recent interview with Insider when asked about the pressures of being a queer, Latino creator.
"The intersection between the ideas of diversity and media has become convoluted into a form of activism or something," he added.
Fabrega agreed, telling Insider: "If I pitch something or write something that happens to have queer people or characters in it, if someone told me, 'Can you make it more about that? Can we focus on that more?' I'd be like, 'No, that's not the intention.'"
"I think that people can write whatever, regardless of their background or how they sexually identify or anything like that. I hope that a show like this shows industry people especially: If you let people just write what they wanna write, it'll be good and interesting," she continued. "You'll be able to check your boxes without trying to force people to check boxes, you know?"
As for Torres, he said he hasn't felt forced to write about particular topics, despite being a Latino writer in the entertainment industry.
"I've never set out to do any work with an agenda, but rather I just touch on things that I'm naturally interested in," the "My Favorite Shapes" creator said.
Ultimately, Torres said, "if someone with [a particular] background and experience has something emotionally honest to say about that, that's beautiful. But when it's prescribed, it feels dishonest."
All six episodes of "Los Espookys" season two are now streaming on HBO Max.