The third and final season premieres April 26 on Starz.
After three seasons, Vida is coming to an end.
Starz confirmed that the upcoming season of the Latinx show starring Melissa Barrera as Lyn and Mishel Prada as Emma will be its last. Showrunner Tanya Saracho penned a letter to fans announcing the "bittersweet" news:
I have not been able to write this letter -- every time I try my palms get sweaty, my heart does a cumbia beat and I get nauseous. It’s taken me days. Because no matter how you slice it, this is a farewell letter. So I’ll get that part out of the way: Season Three will be VIDA’s final season. Rather than dwell on the ‘hows’ and the ‘whys,’ what I’m burning to get to is the ‘thank-you’ part. That’s the part that’s making my chest ache.
When I began this journey three and a half years ago, I never dreamed that by the end of the process I’d be so wholly changed -- mind, body and spirit -- and that I’d be standing so strongly in my abilities to run and create a TV show the way it should have always been created: By us. When I started this, the landscape was a bleak one for Latinx representation. In the television landscape, the narratives about us were few and far between and were stuck on stereotypical. And I had only heard of one Latina showrunner who’d been allowed to run a show solo. Also for brown queers, there was truly no representation.
This is where the thank-yous begin: Because you championed our delicate and darling little series, we were gifted three beautifully compelling, trailblazing seasons of television. Sincerely, this is why I wanted to personally write this letter, to express that your support has meant everything. It has meant two renewals and validation that our brown narrative is worth telling. I will never be able to thank you enough for your reception and endorsement. Truly.
This goodbye is too bittersweet for words. I'd be lying if I said I’m not sad about not getting back into that magical writers room to keep crafting our story. But after all, I got to tell the exact story I wanted to tell, exactly how I wanted to tell it, and that is rare in this industry. I leave steeped in gratitude. Thankful to Starz for not just allowing VIDA to happen, but for being great co-parents as we raised her together. And grateful for the collaborators whose careers we were able to launch: Latinx cinematographers, writers, actors — almost entirely female — who are now out there and in demand. What a beautiful family we built. And what a beautiful show.
Mil gracias. I do hope you’re able to give this, our last season, a good send off, because let me tell you, it is a powerful one. It is just as compelling as ever with some imagery and themes I’ve never seen on television before. I’m profoundly proud of it.
Servidora,
Tanya Saracho
Vida chronicles the life of Mexican-American sisters, Lyn and Emma, who return to their East Los Angeles home after their mother's sudden death. Upon arriving to Boyle Heights, they discover that their mother was queer and married a woman named Eddy (Ser Anzoategui), whom they are forced to share their inheritance and family bar.
Season two saw the sisters leave their past lives behind to come together and make their bar work. With a slew of ups and downs, fights, secrets and lies, Lyn and Emma are doing what they can to keep their family's legacy alive.
While the series follows two Latinas and their struggles, the storylines are universal and not just for Latinxs.
"I grew up watching American television and I could relate to the characters just fine because you connect with the inside, you connect to the struggle, you connect to the emotion, you connect to the way they make decisions," Barrera previously told ET. "If we can relate to them, they should be able to relate to us. It's like, yes, we are here, we are Latinx. You can clearly see that just by looking at us, by seeing us onscreen. We are there and people know that we are not white. But, the storylines are there, the human emotions are there."
Vida's third and final season premieres April 26 on Starz.
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