Apple TV+’s new dramedy Land of Women has just premiered, hailing Eva Longoria’s long-awaited return to television. After rising to fame in the beloved primetime soap opera Desperate Housewives, Longoria has enjoyed success on both the small and big screens, as well as behind the camera. She recently directed and starred in the comedy biopic Flamin’ Hot and is now pulling double duty as actor and executive producer on her new show, based on Sandra Barneda’s novel La tierra de las mujeres.

Longoria plays Gala, a wine connoisseur whose husband gets in hot water with loan sharks, sending her running for the Spanish countryside with her teenage daughter Kate (newcomer Victoria Bazua) and scatterbrained mother Julia (Carmen Maura, a frequent collaborator of Pedro Almodovar’s). Though Gala clearly loves her daughter and mother, all three generations need to better understand each other — which their rediscovery of the vineyard owned by Julia’s family just might help them do.

Screen Rant interviewed Bazua about the fascinating experience of landing her first major TV role, what she took away from working with screen legends like Eva Longoria and Carmen Maura, and how she describes the complex mother-daughter dynamic at the heart of Land of Women.

Land Of Women Has Been A Whirlwind For Victoria Bazua

Screen Rant: I really loved Land of Women, and I didn’t realize it was your first major TV role. How exciting was that experience? How did you land that role?

Victoria Bazua: At 13 or 14 years old, I started modeling back in Mexico. I got an agency, started modeling, and in literally three months from starting in that agency modeling, I got a casting for this role of Kate. I was like, “Hmm, she seems very similar to me. I’m going to get it.”

I did it, and I went in with the mentality that I was going to get it, and I just waited two days until they were back and were like, “We want to have a chemistry read with you and Eva by Zoom.” And I was like, “Oh? Manifestation queen!” I had the chemistry read, and here’s the crazy thing: Ramón Campos, the producer, and Carlos Sedes, the director of the show, flew into Mexico City from Spain just so they could talk to me and see how I was. And I got it.

In less than a month, I went from Mexico City modeling to Spain’s vineyards, acting with Eva Longoria and Carmen Maura.

Lessons Learned On Set From Eva Longoria & Carmen Maura

You’ve got some incredible women playing your mother and your grandmother. Can you talk about what lessons you took away from them? What did they teach you?

Victoria Bazua: I learned many, many lessons. Some are from acting, some are life lessons. But I feel like in general, from Carmen, I learned how to be professional and how to take things seriously; how to work in a team, especially.

From Eva, I just learned how to be free and how to be more confident. Because I’ve always been really confident, but she made me embrace it. Don’t be scared of being confident. It doesn’t matter what other people say, just be you. And that really helps me. I hold them very close to my heart, always.

When the series starts, Kate seems to have very little idea what’s going on with her family, but she still has a heartwarming dynamic with them. Can you talk about her role in the family and her thoughts on what might be going on with her mom at first?

Victoria Bazua: She’s a New York City girl, so she’s going from her high school in New York City to her mom being like, “We’re going to have a girls’ trip to Spain!” And then they get to this little town — which by the way, playing Kate and being like, “Ew, this little town,” was extremely hard because it was a beautiful town. The vineyards and the views were amazing.

So, she was like, “Why did we come to this town when we could have gone to Ibiza or Madrid? Hello?” She’s weirded out by this, but she slowly starts to realize, “Oh, something’s wrong.” And at first, she’s skeptical. She’s like, “Why did my mom not tell us about this?” She’s mad, obviously, but slowly, she obviously learns how to understand the reasons why Gala did what she did and to appreciate the hard work.

Because as women, we have to be so hardworking to overcome these situations that we get put in.

About Land Of Women

Land of Women is a dramedy starring Eva Longoria as Gala, a well-to-do New Yorker who has her life turned upside down when her husband fails to repay a debt to the wrong people. With dangerous criminals searching for her family and now vanished husband, Gala is forced to leave the city with her aging mother Julia (Carmen Maura) and teenage daughter Kate (Victoria Bazúa) to her mother’s hometown in northern Spain—a place that Julia fled 50 years ago—to start life anew and hope their identities remain hidden. But gossip in the charming wine town quickly spreads, unraveling their deepest family secrets and truths.

Check out our other interviews with:

• Eva Longoria & Santiago Cabrera
• Ramón Campos & Gema R. Neira

Source: Screen Rant Plus