Created by Lauren Swickard (“A California Christmas”) and Ali Afshar (“He’s Just Not That Into You”), Amazon Freevee has landed the exclusive U.S. streaming rights to “Casa Grande,” a “Yellowstone”-esque but bilingual, neo-Western limited series which follows the everyday realities and conflicts between California’s hardworking, often undocumented migrant workforce and the wealthy landowners who reap the profits. All five one-hour episodes will premiere Monday, May 1 on the streaming service.
In a statement, Afshar, who also has a starring role in the series, says, “We molded ‘Casa Grande’ as a Hispanic-influenced ‘Yellowstone’ and feel the story will resonate powerfully with audiences appreciating elevated western themes and cultures presented through a different prism. Amazon Freevee is the perfect service for audiences to discover and binge the world of ‘Casa Grande’ where the intensity never lets up and the traditional good vs. evil trope becomes skewed and more challenging to accept.”
“I’m immensely proud of the ‘Casa Grande’ team for bringing authenticity to the forefront in ESX Entertainment’s debut series,” added Swickard. “Now more than ever, it’s important to deliver powerful, genuine stories and ‘Casa Grande’ does just that. By touching on real-life themes related to family, class, culture and the never-ending pursuit of the American dream, our multi-layered narrative will captivate audiences of all backgrounds.”
Intertwining the lives of various families in the farmlands of Northern California, “Casa Grande” is described as an upstairs/downstairs story transposed from turn-of-the-century English countryside to rural America. The show uses the framework of conventional character drama to explore universal themes of class, immigration, culture and family.
The grand theme is peels back the curtain on how the machine we all live in runs: The glimmering, upper-crust culture could not exist without the unyielding, backbreaking, labor of the socially invisible migrant workforce laboring behind the scenes. With the Clarkman Farm and its neighboring property, Dalton Farm, employing, housing and feeding much of Mendocino County’s undocumented immigrants, “Casa Grande” explores the dramatic, truth of our country’s allure for immigrants and what mankind will endure for a taste of the American dream.
The series cast includes John Pyper-Ferguson (“The 100,” “Suits”), Christina Moore (“That ‘70s Show,” “90210”), Madison Lawlor (“Juniper”), Karen Bethzabe (“Babylon”), Javier Bolaños (“All American”), Raquel Dominguez (“Chicago Med”), James Marsters (“Buffy The Vampire Slayer”), Emmy-winner Kate Mansi (“Days of our Lives”), Daniel Edward Mora (“Coco”), Loren Escandon (“The Baxters”) and the aforementioned Afshar.
“Casa Grande” is directed by award-winning Latin filmmaker Gabriela Tagliavini (“Despite Everything”) and written by Alex Ranarivelo, Michael Cruz, and Swickard, who also serves as the series showrunner. Series executive producers are Ava Rettke and Daniel Aspromonte.
Known for its popular holiday hits on Netflix and HBO Max, including “A California Christmas,” “I Believe in Santa,” “Holiday Harmony” featuring Brooke Shields, and “A Christmas Mystery” starring Violet McGraw (“M3gan”), “Casa Grande” marks the first television series from Afshar’s ESX Entertainment.
Amazon Freevee is a streaming video service with thousands of premium movies and TV shows available within Prime Video and through the standalone Freevee app on Fire TV, Fire tablets and many third-party devices.
Check out the official trailer below.
