As published on Caderno B+

Launched in 2023 with great prominence on Globoplay, the sitcom Encantado’s was a huge success last year and is back on streaming with the second phase of the story. One that wins in terms of cast and more news, in front of and behind the camera.

The plot, created and written by Renata Andrade and Thais Pontes, gained a team reinforcement with more writers (the addition of Hela Santana) that continues the series that – no pun intended – enchanted the public.

Renata and Thais are long-time friends and were revealed through a workshop for new authors, where they presented the project written and designed for a mostly black cast, avoiding themes of violence or racism. “The series features a black majority and has three black writers, but it’s not about that”, said Renata. “Of course, we talk about blackness, we touch base, but I think the important thing about the series is to normalize our presence. Encantado’s fulfills this role.”

“And this is only possible when there is an excessive number of black actors in the series”, adds Thaís. “We see a lot of stereotypical representations, which are of service, especially at this point in the championship, but when we have so many black actors, we can do different representations. We deliver this diversity that should have been noticed a long time ago by the audiovisual, but that we manage to do in the series”.

The fact that Encantado’s is one of the most emblematic of this inclusive moment is felt by the cast as well, trying to bring here an example that is already common abroad. “We started watching foreign series and saw that it was impossible to make a series in which everyone is black in Brazil and pretend,” commented one of the writers, Antônio Prata.

The biggest reference is Everybody Hates Cris, a huge success on Pay TV and open for years. But there are others mentioned such as Harlem, Insecure, Atlanta, and others such as Parks and Recreation and even Sex And the City. Among the Brazilian content, there are also hints of TV Pirata and Sai De Baixo. “Somehow, there is some trace of Renata as a viewer in Renata as a screenwriter today,” she joked.

“This is the broth where we are drinking all the time, like, the mix of these contemporary pop references, in short, I think this is great fun, right? It’s like, where are we going now, right?”, commented writer Chico Mattoso.

The plot takes place in the Rio neighborhood of Encantado, in the suburbs of Rio de Janeiro where two brothers with opposite temperaments inherit a market from their father. Olímpia (Vilma Melo) wants to make the business prosper, Eraldo (Luis Miranda) prioritizes samba and Carnival. Thus, during the day the market functions as a commerce, and at night it becomes the rehearsal space for the samba school founded by their father.

“We wanted to talk about this carnival that has no money, no support, no media”, explained Renata. “They are there as they can, but they continue to parade”.

The fear of the Rio accent having too much weight crossed the team’s mind but was quickly overcome, as Thais explained. “The street carnival, which is far from the spotlight, is a reality throughout Brazil. It’s obvious that it very much belongs to Carioca’s DNA, but there are outskirts all over Brazil, in the South, in Goiás, in Espírito Santo, in the Northeast. It’s not exclusive to Rio de Janeiro,” she explained. “In some way, we are talking to all the outskirts of Brazil.”

In this second phase, the ‘Encantado’s’ group will feature famous names, but we return to the Joia do Encantado group, which shares the same space in the Ponza family establishment. After the apotheotic parade that moved the avenue, new challenges arose, delving deeper into more characters and relationships other than conflicts between brothers.

We will follow Maria Augusta (Evelyn Castro), digital influencer and Eraldo’s wife, creating problems for Olímpia by proclaiming herself the manager of Encantado’s. “Maria Augusta is not at all adult, I judge, I judge, Evelyn judges Maria Augusta a lot!”, laughed Evelyn Castro. “She
She has a certain naivety and becomes childish because she wants to be accepted so much and this thing about her becoming a manager is because she wants to be accepted by this family and especially by Olímpia”, she comments. “But it ends up creating a lot of confusion…”, she anticipates.

The one who really comes to cause it is the new antagonist of the plot: Dalva (Eliane Giardini), who is linked to the bicheiro Madurão (Tony Ramos) and the Ponzas. “I got into this story to make a mess of the family. Dalva’s desire is to make a difference in this family”, said Eliane. “She enters the position that Tony Ramos occupied, but with one more ingredient, that she comes with something passionate, she comes for personal revenge”, she reveals. “Geraldo was the great passion of her life, but she was preferred”, explains the actress. “Now she came to take revenge on this family.”

In the first two episodes, it is possible to notice the cast’s rapport, which outside of the scene is also extremely united. “It is a great honor to be able to work with these people and it’s a very special job”, Vilma Melo commented emotionally. ”I had not yet seen any work of this scale like Encantado’s on Brazilian TV. I had already seen other series from abroad, such as Everybody Hates Cris, but when we are putting black people in this place [on TV], we are giving a message that it is possible and that black people sell”, she assesses. “I had never experienced this, so many people like me coming together, fighting for the same cause,” she said.

And having fun! The success of Encantado’s guaranteed a second season, with the appearance of much more to come, perhaps even a film! Yes, plans are being considered. For now, the focus is on returning to the Encantado neighborhood and discovering more about the characters that already have the public’s affection.

“Now we already have a relationship that we see at the end of the first season and in the second season we have several moments of this relationship” comments Luis Miranda. “Work with whoever you love and you’ll never have a day of work again”, he says and everyone gets emotional. In truth.

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