Vicente Fernández, the indisputable king of traditional Mexican ranchera music, will get the biopic series treatment from a joint production between Univision and Televisa. The two Spanish-language mass media companies will adapt the series from the book “El Último Rey” (“The Last King”) by Argentine journalist and author Olga Wornat. Televisa reached an agreement with Editorial Planeta to acquire the rights to the unauthorized biography of “El Charro de Huentitán’s” life.
After a fruitful career selling over 50 million records and appearing in more than 30 films, the successful musician and businessman died Dec. 12, 2021. He was 81 and survived by his wife, Maria del Refugio Abarca Villaseñor, his three children and the thousands of admirers he amassed globally who mourned his loss. Fernández had been diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome, a rare autoimmune disease that attacks the nerves, and his health had taken a turn for the worse in his final months.
Over the course of the emblematic performer’s career, Fernández won three Grammys and eight Latin Grammys, and his hit songs became mainstays in Mexican culture and across borders with fans worldwide. Some of those include “Volver, Volver,” “El Rey” and “Lástima Que Seas Ajena.” Fernández was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1988.
Univision has yet to reveal further details on the development of the series. Spanish-language biopics and biopics about Latinx celebrities have been on a hot streak the past couple of years — “Mariposa de Barrio,” “Luis Miguel: La serie” “Celia” and “Selena: The Series,” to name a few of the more popular titles.