‘Pressure’ on as ‘Mga Lihim ni Urduja’ takes over ‘Maria Clara at Ibarra’

With “Maria Clara at Ibarra” ending last Friday, the unenviable task of filling the slot vacated by the successful portal fantasy series in GMA 7’s primetime block goes to the mythical fantasy series “Mga Lihim ni Urduja.”

But while cast members of the new show admitted that they do feel the pressure, they have full faith in the material and are confident with the work they have put in so far.

“Of course, there’s pressure, because we’re replacing ‘Maria Clara at Ibarra.’ But we trust each other. We trust our director and the whole production team. And we know that the show will be well-crafted,” Arra San Agustin, who plays one of the show’s villains, said at a recent press conference for the show, which premieres on Monday, Feb. 27.

“Feeling pressure can also be good, because that only means that we care about the series and that we really want to come up with a good show,” Arra added. “We have a very collaborative environment that takes into account actors’ suggestions… We’re also given creative freedom. And that’s a big thing for us artists.”

Inspired by the legend of the warrior princess Urduja, the show follows the exploits of Gem (Kylie Padilla), an eager rookie police officer, and Crystal (Gabbi Garcia), a budding jewelry designer. The two join a special law enforcement operation and are tasked to recover magical precolonial artifacts that are believed to have belonged to Urduja in the 1300s.

As if their clashing personalities don’t make the mission challenging enough to navigate, Gem and Crystal must also deal with the Bounty Hunters, a band of mercenaries with different sets of skills: Kenzo (Pancho Magno), Valencia (Arra), Freya (Michelle Dee), Onyx (Vin Abrenica) and Ryker (Kristoffer Martin).

Different flavor

The show also takes a peek into the precolonial Southeast Asian kingdom of Tawalisi, said to be located in present-day Pangasinan, according to accounts. There, Urduja (Sanya Lopez) leads an army of skilled female warriors, and seeks to maintain peace amid challenges to her rule.

“It’s a big help that I have already played warrior characters before,” said Sanya, who played Sang’gre Danaya in “Encantadia 2016.” “But this one has a different flavor to it.”

Somewhere along the way, Gem and Crystal will discover that they may actually be long-lost half sisters descended from Urduja.

For Zoren Legaspi, who plays Maestro Marius, the head of Mission Urduja, different shows will have different audiences. “There was an instance like this last year: Our afternoon soap ‘Apoy sa Langit’ had good ratings, so the production staff of the succeeding show, ‘Abot-Kamay na Pangarap’ was worried,” he recalled.

“But upon seeing their trailer, I told them, ‘You have a different market. You’ll do well. Just do your job. The ratings are just icing on the cake,’” he added.

Younger audiences

That’s the kind of mindset Zoren and his costars are keeping during “Urduja’s” run. “It’s clean and cinematic. Kudos to the show that we’re replacing. I would like to believe that we also have our own market. Our show is action-adventure… It’s unique because the legend of Urduja hasn’t really been tackled extensively on television,” he pointed out.

In conceptualizing the show, director Jorron Lee Monroy knew that he had to present the story in a way that would resonate with younger audiences. “I may be one of the youngest directors in GMA 7, but that may very well be my advantage. I’m the same age as most of the cast members, and I allowed them to express their individualities,” he said.

“We try to reach younger viewers through different aspects, from aesthetics to language to music,” he added. INQ