Italian
“Like Water for Chocolate” has been renewed for a second season at Max, executive producer Salma Hayek Pinault revealed at the streamer’s showcase in London Thursday evening.
Hayek Pinault, appearing alongside Max Latin America boss Mariano Cesar, said the romantic drama series will not go beyond Season 2. “We don’t want to do more than two,” she said. “We want to do something that’s really special, and [make sure] that we don’t water it down to try and make it longer.”
“Like Water for Chocolate,” an adaptation of the 1989 magical realism novel by Laura Esquivel, follows star-crossed lovers Tita and Pedro, whose romance is hindered by her family traditions. Tita finds solace in the kitchen, where magic and flavors help her embrace her destined path. A film adaptation of the story, directed by Alfonso Arau, was released in 1992.
The series launched on Max Nov. 3 and stars Azul Guaita, Andres Baida, Irene Azuela, Ana Valeria Becerril and Andrea Chaparro, among others.
Popular on Variety “Like Water for Chocolate’s” first season received critical praise, with Variety‘s Aramide Tinubu calling it “sensual and indulgent” in her review. “The exquisitely lush show breathes new life into one of the most enduring love stories in recent history,” she wrote.
In an interview with Variety ahead of the show’s premiere, Hayek Pinault called the story a “true jewel of Latin American literature and film,” adding that she “wanted to find a new place and way to tell this story, so that a new generation can discover it and the people who already have a relationship with the story can rediscover it in a new format.”
