Control Z Explained
| Genre: | Teen drama |
| Opentheme: | "San Diego" by Hinds |
| Endtheme: | "Hold Your Horses On" by Lasser Drakar featuring Stag Girls |
| Composer: | Andrés Sanchez Maher |
| Country: | Mexico |
| Language: | Spanish |
| Num Seasons: | 3 |
| Num Episodes: | 24 |
| Runtime: | 35–44 minutes |
| Company: | Lemon Studios |
| Network: | Netflix |
Control Z is a Mexican teen drama television series created by Carlos Quintanilla Sakar, Adriana Pelusi and Miguel García Moreno and developed by Lemon Studios for Netflix,[1] [2] that premiered on Netflix on 22 May 2020.[3] The show stars Ana Valeria Becerril, Michael Ronda, Yankel Stevan and Zión Moreno. Shortly after its release, the series was renewed for a second season on 29 May 2020.[4] Season 2 was released on 4 August 2021[5] and later that month, the series was renewed for a third and final season, which was released on 6 July 2022.[6] [7] [8]
Premise
During an assembly at Colegio Nacional (National School), an unknown hacker exposes a student as transgender, humiliating her. The next day, the hacker reveals more students' secrets. That causes numerous teens to turn on each others. Sofía Herrera, an introverted teenager, tries to uncover who this hacker is before more secrets (including hers) become public. She is joined in her mission by Javier Williams, a newly transferred student.
Cast and characters
Main
- Ana Valeria Becerril as Sofía Herrera, her love interests was Raúl and now Javier. She is a very observant and quiet student, often seen as an outsider by her peers and when secrets are revealed, she sets out to investigate who the hacker is. She is smart and very justice-driven, but normally has to keep the peace between Raúl and Javier and she suffers from mental health problems due to her family situation.
- Michael Ronda as Javier Williams, the new student and a love interest of Sofía. He quickly makes friends with Sofía on his first day at National School. He expresses romantic feelings for Sofía throughout the season and has a rivalry with Raúl, usually over the investigation and Sofía. He is the son of a retired footballer, Damian Williams, but refuses the coach's requests for him to play for the school team due to trauma from accidentally murdering a teammate from his former high school.
- Yankel Stevan as Raúl León, a love interest of Sofía. Just like Javier he expresses romantic feelings for Sofía throughout the season. He comes from quite a wealthy family and is initially one of the popular kids but later helps Sofía track down the hacker. He strongly dislikes Javier.
- Zión Moreno as Isabela de la Fuente (season 1),[9] a transgender student and former girlfriend of Pablo. She was the most popular girl in the school and was liked by many boys, but after it was revealed that she was trans, she got harassed by multiple students and dumped by Pablo. In season 2, as mentioned by María, she left the school sometime after the hacker was unmasked.
- Luis Curiel as Luis Navarro, a quiet student who enjoys drawing. He is often misunderstood and bullied by Gerry, Ernesto and Dario, but is helped by Sofía and Javier, and has a friendship with Alex.
- Samantha Acuña as Alejandra "Alex" Salomone, an openly yet socially distant lesbian student who is in a forbidden relationship with her Biology teacher Gabriela and is talented with computers.
- Macarena García Romero as Natalia Alexander, one of the popular students, twin sister of María and one of Isabela's former best friends. She was in charge of organizing the NONA event until the secret about her using money raised from it in order to buy expensive items for herself was exposed. She is very self-centred, focused, and goes to extreme lengths to achieve what she wants.
- Fiona Palomo as María Alexander, the twin sister of Natalia and another of Isabela's former best friends who is secretly having a fling with Pablo behind her back. She is often her sister's sidekick, but is nicer to people and always tries to make her friends happy. She feels guilty about being with Pablo while he was dating Isabela.
- Andrés Baida as Pablo García, one of the popular students and ex-boyfriend of Isabela. He dumped Isabela in front of the school after she was exposed for being trans, but tries to reconcile with her multiple times later, despite cheating with María. He is loyal to his friends and encourages Gerry to stop bullying Luis, but is revealed to be an unfaithful boyfriend. In season 2, he is the most unforgiving of the student body when Raúl returns to the school despite his actions as the hacker that he incessantly uses violence as a mean to make him pay for everything he did, even after finding out that he's been hiding Gerry, who is wanted by the police for murdering Luis. He also tries unsuccessfully to reconcile with María for acting indifferently over her pregnancy.
- Patricio Gallardo as Gerardo "Gerry" Granda, a former student at National School and ex-boyfriend of Rosita. He is a closeted sexually curious but ideally heterosexual boy who is exposed for watching gay pornography. He constantly bullied Luis along with his minions, Darío and Ernesto, and crosses the line when he sends Luis into a coma. He is very aggressive and bottles up a lot of anger and insecurity inside, but is shown to be empathetic and regrets his mistreatment of Luis.
- Iván Aragón as Darío, one of Gerry's minions
- Xabiani Ponce de León as Ernesto, another of Gerry's minions
- Paty Maqueo as Rosa "Rosita" Restrepo, Gerry's ex-girlfriend who breaks up with him after his secret is exposed. She takes over as the organizer of the NONA after Natalia is revealed to be stealing the money.
- Rodrigo Cachero as Miguel Quintanilla, the former principal of National School. He is dating Sofía's mother and proposes, but is rejected. He has sex with Susana in spitefulness. In season 2, he is engaged to Nora until she breaks it off after his affair with Susana comes to light.
- Rocío Verdejo as Nora, Sofía's mother, who is distrustful of her daughter's decisions and the people she hangs out with after her father's supposed death.
- Mauro Sánchez Navarro as Bruno (season 1; recurring season 3), the person in charge of technology at the school who assists the hacker in revealing the secrets of the students. He returns to get revenge on Raúl and the others for making his stay in jail a very horrific one by threatening to expose their involvement in Susana's death.
- Lidia San José as Gabriela, a Biology teacher who is fired from National School after her relationship with Alex is exposed. She later moves to Spain for a job opportunity.
- Thanya López as Susana, one of the teachers at National School. She later becomes the new principal in season 2 and is accidentally murdered during a scuffle over Raúl's money bag.
- Renata del Castillo as Lulú, Quintanilla's secretary at National School.
- Arturo Barba as Fernando/Rogelio Herrera, Sofía's father and Nora's husband who fakes his own death. In season 2, he ends up in jail when the hacker exposes the truth. It is later revealed in season 3 that the reason why he did so is because he has another family.
- Kariam Castro as Valeria, a mean student who makes fun of Isabela after her secret is exposed.
- Ariana Saavedra as Regina, Valeria's friend.
- Ana Sofía Gatica as Claudia (seasons 2–3), María's friend and love interest. She had issues with Pablo due to his previous behaviour, before the two put their differences aside to help rescue Natalia when she is kidnapped. They later become friends. She teams up with Sofia and the others to cover up Susana's murder and investigate the new hacker who wants to expose them in season 3.
- Cristian Santin as Antonio Segovia "El Güero" (seasons 2–3; recurring season 1), the former P.E. teacher and Susana's husband. He resigned after Susana's death, and became a depressed alcoholic.
- Sandra Burgos as Marta, Luis's mother (seasons 2–3; recurring season 1)
- Pierre Louis as Felipe "Pipe" (season 2; guest season 3), a handsome man Gerry falls in love with while he hides from the police.
Recurring
- Alexander Holtmann as Lalo de la Fuente (season 1), Isabela's father
- Nastassia Villasana as Bety de la Fuente (season 1), Isabela's mother
- Marco Zunino as Damián Williams, Javier's father and a retired footballer
- Susana Lozano as Gerry's mother (seasons 1–2)
- Ricardo Crespo as Gerry's father (seasons 1–2)
- Daniela Zavala as Alondra de León (season 1), Raúl's mother
- Alejandro Ávila as Roberto de León (season 1), Raúl's father
- Rodrigo Mejía as Natalia's father (seasons 1–2)
- Citlali Galindo as Natalia's mother
- Fabián Mejía as Salvador (season 1)
- Cuitlahuac Santoyo as Gibrán
- Pablo de la Rosa as Jordi (season 1; guest season 2)
- David Montalvo as Joaquín (season 1) and Bernardo (season 3)
- Diana Carreiro as Daniela (season 3),[10] a new student at the Colegio Nacional who wants to belong to the “masked sect” and will bring out her most evil side
- Carmen Beato as Elvia (season 3), the new principal at National School following Susana's death
- Gina Varela as Ana (season 3), Pablo's mother
Episodes
Season 3 (2022)
Notes and References
- Web site: Albornoz . Maye . Control Z primera serie original de Lemon Studios para Netflix se hizo pensando en los adolescentes . produ.com . 26 February 2020 . 29 April 2020 . es.
- Web site: Jiménez . Gonzalo . Netflix revela sus nuevas películas y series hechas en México . cnet.com . 29 April 2020 . es.
- Web site: 'Control Z': la nueva serie original de Netflix para México parece una telenovela juvenil de hackers . xataka.com.mx . 21 April 2020 . 29 April 2020 . es.
- Web site: Ramos . Alejandra . Control Z: Hacker confirma segunda temporada . CNET en Español . 31 May 2020 . es.
- Web site: Control Z Season 2 Date Announcement Netflix. July 7, 2021. YouTube.
- Web site: 2021-08-30. Netflix renueva Control Z para una tercera temporada. 2021-10-03. TTV News. es-ES.
- Web site: 2022-04-28. Belascoarán, El Rey, serie del América… lo que llega a Netflix 2022. 2022-04-28. Sinembargo.mx. es-ES.
- Web site: 'Control Z' Season 3 Coming to Netflix in July 2022; No Season 4 Planned. What's on Netflix. May 6, 2022.
- Web site: "Control Z": Zion Moreno no estará en la segunda temporada de la serie de Netflix. 14 October 2020 . October 17, 2020. es.
- Web site: Diana Carreiro joins the third season of the series "Control Z". 21 June 2022 . El Americano. 22 June 2022.
