To say that the latest iteration
of iconic Filipina super-heroine Darna in local TV has been a troubled production
is now verging on understatement. In the past few years the project has gone
through not just lead star casting changes but also directorial changes. That
is to say nothing about the ongoing COVID pandemic and the fact that its
planned network, ABS-CBN, remains shut down and thus might possibly air on
cable and future simulcast deals. But determination is integral to any
Kapamilya production, and the fact that a major casting was announced last week
means “Mars Ravelo’s Darna: The TV Series” is still on.
As told by Inquirer.net, actress Iza Calzado was announced by ABS-CBN to be
part of its “Darna: The TV Series,” alongside lead star Jane De Leon. The real
bombshell of the reveal was her role, something that gives this new retelling
of the Mars Ravelo comic-book character yet another origin story. Calzado plays
the “first Darna,” who will then give her super-powers to De Leon’s character:
her daughter Narda. This “Mask of Zorro” twist gives the multiple-retread
narrative a new spin, and for Iza this casting technically fulfills a dream
role she had over a decade ago that never crystallized.
On an Instagram post this past
Saturday, August 14, Calzado talked of how in childhood she saw Darna as a role
to aim for in her acting career, one that nearly came true 17 years ago were it
not for another actress to be cast. This was in the 2005 “Darna” TV series on
GMA7, as recounted by Iza in a 2014 interview with Boy Abunda, two years after
she transferred networks in 2012. She was considered by her former network to
play Darna then, only to choose Angel Locsin, who would later become one of the
prominent Kapuso-Kapamilya transferees.
The nearly two decades since that
missed opportunity was in hindsight taken by Calzado as a journey towards
returning to the role that she could have portrayed in her younger days. As she
notes thus, “The journey to this has been 17 years for me with a lot of painful
parts that I have come to accept with grace because I know this is part of my
journey to becoming my own kind of Darna.” She called this return to the
character as an example of divine timing, something that she believes to be
real.
“Mars Ravelo’s Darna: The TV Series”
has yet to be given a premiere date by ABS-CBN Entertainment, though it is sure
to be carried on cable by Kapamilya Channel and A2Z, as well as simulcast for
free TV on TV5.
Image courtesy of Philippine Star
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