Posted in: NBC, TV | Tagged: brooklyn nine-nine, encanto, nbc, stephanie beatriz, Twin Flames

Brooklyn Nine-Nine Star Explains Why She Thought She Wouldn't Be Cast

Published Sun, 06 Mar 2022 09:06:10 -0600

Stephanie Beatriz has come a long way in her career given her breakout role in the police sitcom Brooklyn Nine-Nine in 2013. The Encanto star landed the role of the street smart resident badass Det Rosa Diaz on the series four years since her on-screen debut in the TNT series The Closer that starred Kyra Sedgwick, who ended up playing recurring antagonist Madeline Wuntch on the comedy. Beatriz remained on the ensemble cast from its beginnings on FOX before its final three seasons on NBC, but she didn't initially think she would be retained following the pilot. Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, the Twin Flames podcast host opened up about her initial thoughts after originally auditioning for the role of the detail-oriented and overachiever Det Amy Santiago before it went to her co-star Melissa Fumero.

"The stuff that's happened in the past, I'd say, 15 years is absolutely incredible," Beatriz said. "The fact that when I was cast on 'Brooklyn Nine-Nine,' I thought either me or Melissa Fumero was going to get fired… and we didn't? The fact that I thought that, and now you can pick out any number of stars?" The actress initially thought she wouldn't be retained because of tokenism. "I thought, 'Well, there's no way that they're going to keep both of us. We're going to shoot the pilot. Somebody somewhere is going to say, 'Well, why do we need both of them? We have one. Let's slot somebody in this other slot.'' As opposed to looking at us for our abilities as actresses. You would never look at a show and go, 'Well, we've got one white actress — we don't really need two.' You wouldn't do that. But there was a time when you would do that with actors of color. I really did think that. I don't want to speak for Melissa, but I think she probably had thoughts of that, too. And now you look at the TV landscape and there's tons of shows with multiple Latinos in the cast, with lots of Black people in the cast. It's not that way anymore. I mean, the more avenues we can get into to tell stories that are smart, funny, dramatic, daring, and reflective of the human experience, the better."

As far as what would Rosa think about Beatriz's latest venture. "Oh gosh. I think Rosa would want to… [laughs]," she said. "Let me say this: I'm interested to see what will happen as these episodes drop. Because the Twin Flames universe, though small, is very, very, very sure that what they're doing is right — so much so that many of their followers will do and say anything Jeff and Shelia tell them to. So as this sort of forward-facing host, I don't know what will happen once the rest of those episodes drop. I'm loath to paint myself into a corner more than I may already have. [Laughs] So I'll just leave it at that." The Twin Flames podcast, which follows the controversial dating platform, is available on Wondery+ and all major podcast platforms. New episodes premiere Mondays. For more on the podcast and Latino representation in media, you can go to EW.

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