Netflix is producing a new scripted drama series based on the life of Frida Kahlo, one of Mexico’s most celebrated artists, and her husband, Diego Rivera, one of Mexico’s most celebrated muralists. The show will portray the many layers of their relationship, including the intensity, volatility, and transformational nature of the love that they shared with one another, all in the context of the personal, political, and social realities of early 20th-century Mexico.
According to Deadline and Variety, this series will depict the couple’s love for each other and their experiences with betrayal, as well as the context of the times in which their powerful works of art were created. Kahlo will not be presented just as a source of inspiration for Rivera, but also as an artist who created her own distinct body of work as a means to tell the story of her own pain and struggles for survival. Rivera is shown to be challenged by sustaining his greatness as a muralist while dealing with the contradictions of family life. Together, their relationship serves as both the context through which all great art is created, as well as the context through which the world will come to know more about México.
This series is based on the novel by Claire Berest, which chronicles Kahlo’s life and her relationship with Rivera. The series is produced by Alebrije Producciones, through producer Mónica Lozano. The Head Writer is María Renée Prudencio.
Renowned directors Patricia Riggen (who has directed episodes of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan) and Gabriel Ripstein (who has directed several episodes of Narcos and 600 Miles) will direct this collaborative project. The goal is to provide an innovative, audacious viewpoint about two people often cloaked in myth.
Carolina Leconte, Netflix’s VP of Content for Mexico, has described this project as ambitious: “This proposal is audacious, because it takes us into the most intimate spaces of two individuals we believe have been mythologized so much that we have not yet accounted for their true stories.”
This announcement follows the ongoing interest in the life of Kahlo and includes adaptations such as the award-winning film Frida (starring Salma Hayek and now available on Netflix), as well as many documentaries created about her. To date, there is no title for the project, no casting announcements, no episode order or timetable, because the project is still in the development phase.
This new series allows Netflix to provide viewers with a deeper insight into two of Mexico’s most impactful cultural icons, and may reveal new aspects of their legacy that we have yet to understand.