‘La Luna Sangre’ all set for TV premiere

“La Luna Sangre” cast
(From left) Daniel Padilla, Kathryn Bernardo, Cathy Garcia-Molina, Angel Locsin and Richard Gutierrez. Image: Screen grab from the official press conference video post of Star Creatives

The long wait is over.

ABS-CBN’s much-anticipated fantaserye, “La Luna Sangre”, will finally start airing on primetime TV this June 19. Top-billed by the love team of Daniel Padilla and Kathryn Bernardo, the third installment to the fantasy franchise of “Lobo” (2008) and “Imortal” (2010) will be powered by an ensemble cast, made up of some of the brightest stars in local showbiz.

Besides the comeback of KathNiel on TV, the reunion of Angel Locsin and John Lloyd Cruz is also a major highlight of the fanstaserye. Locsin and Cruz were the lead stars of “Imortal” and gave life to the roles of Lia/Lyka and Mateo.

However, Locsin and Cruz, despite playing leads in the previous installments, will only be featured in the new series for a limited time.

“I cannot tell for sure, I don’t want to spoil. Actually po nakakahinayang because si John Lloyd at Angel gusto nating mas makasama ng mas matagal eh, itong dalawang ito [Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla] eh kailangan namang ilabas din. Panahon naman nila inililipat ang korona.” said series director Cathy Garcia-Molina at a press conference last night at the Dolphy Theater at ABS-CBN.

(Of course, we want to be with John Lloyd [Cruz] and Angel [Locsin] longer in the show, but these two [Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla] have to be given their time to shine, too. It’s time to pass on the crown.)

Unlike its predecessors that had heavy storylines, “La Luna Sangre”, will have a different flavor.

“May iba po siyang timpla, pinasukan po siya ng rom-com [romantic-comedy], hindi po siya super dark. There will be parts that are dark especially pag si Sandrino [Richard Gurtierrez] ‘yung pinaguusapan, but we tried as much as possible to be careful din po,” said Molina.

(It has a different mix, we injected rom-com elements. It’s not super dark, except for the scenes involving Sandrino [Richard Gomez]. We tried as much as possible to be careful.)

KathNiel feels pressured

In spite of leading a few of the biggest productions ever staged by ABS-CBN, KathNiel still feels pressured in doing “La Luna Sangre”.

“Siyempre bago sa amin ‘to, ‘yung action ‘to. More than ‘yung kaba ang tagal kasi namin inantay ‘to ni DJ [Daniel Padilla] dapat gagawin siya after “Got to Believe” tapos na-adjust siya ng na-adjust. Naramdaman namin na perfect siya talaga this year na gawin siya kasi sa age namin, mas ready kami,” said Bernardo.

(Action is new to us. Setting aside the anxiousness, we waited so long for this. We should have done this after “Got to Believe” but the schedules had to be adjusted. We feel that now is the perfect year to do it because of of our age. We’re more ready now.)

As this is their first action project, the two have been training hard for their fight scenes. Padilla praised his leading lady for quickly learning most of the choreography, whereas Bernardo had been very much open to Padilla’s comments on her moves. They both underwent training for arnis, balisong and Filipino martial arts.

The “La Luna Sangre” cast includes Richard Gutierrez, Ina Raymundo, Randy Santiago, Gelli De Belen, Joross Gamboa, Isabelle Daza, Danita Paner, Romnick Sarmenta and Victor Neri, among others. JB

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