‘Women in Blue (Las Azules)’ Season One Finale Post-Mortem Interview with Fernando Rovzar & Bárbara Mori

Bárbara Mori in "Women in Blue (Las Azules)," now streaming on Apple TV+.

Season one of Women in Blue (Las Azules) has come to a close on Apple TV+, and to further dive into its bold nature and the journey that Mária went upon, we sat down with series co-creator Fernando Rovzar and series lead Bárbara Mori to discuss ‘Valentina’.
 
John Betancourt: Fernando, what went into the decision to end season one in such a surprisingly unconventional manner.
 
Fernando Rovzar: I think that the show began, you know, as a mix between reality and fiction. And as such, I think in the end, there had to be also a very clear idea of where the reality was and where the fiction was. And the truth is that even in the in the happiest of endings, the reality is that in 1971 in Mexico, there had to be, there also had to be a little bitterness, and there also had to be a little reality, because the truth is that the struggle that these women went through in 1971 was only the beginning, and we couldn't, in good conscience, we couldn't pretend that that was that, that was like the end of it, that the system wouldn't try to, you know, to keep doing what the system does. So, in that sense, and on the other side, talking about reality, I think that, you know, in, I think it was 1974, there was a convicted serial killer known as Goyo Cardenas. Goyo Cardenas was released and pardoned by the President and invited to the Senate to talk about second chances.
 
And this man murdered four women and buried them in his backyard. And he was released for the same reasons that the government started the program of Las Azules, which is, you know, to pretend, to show people that that we were something that we weren't, and to show people that, you know that women are in the police, but at the same time, don't let them investigate. And here's second chances, but at the same time, this man murdered four women and so it just, it just shows that that all the characters in this story are living in in a system that is very prone to theater. So, it was very natural for this, to be able to have a mix of all those things, because that's very much at the essence of Mexico.
 
John Betancourt: Bárbara, I'd love to know what it meant to you as an actor to have so much to work with in this finale.
 
Bárbara Mori: Yeah, it felt really good since the part of the creation, you know, with Fernando, all the work that we did before, also when we rehearse with all the actors and actresses, and you know, the story is getting stronger and tough and very dark in some ways, and very emotional. For me, the inner transformation, emotionally speaking, in Mária… it was very, huge, very, very like challenging for me as an actress, but it felt really, really good to get out of my comfort zone as an actress and be able to tell the story like this.
 
John Betancourt: Some follow up questions to all that, back to Fernando for this one. I'm very curious then, because you mentioned that the finale felt very, very real, which I think I appreciate. It was almost like I was watching more of a documentary than I was a season finale. And I'm curious how you as a showrunner managed to make it feel so raw and so real.
 
Fernando Rovzar: Well, I think that I do have something against endings that don't that feel -- because life doesn't end like, life doesn't close. Like every, every time a door closes, another one opens, in life. And I think that we live every single day ending a story and beginning another one and living like a middle of a third one. You know, we always have, like, all these stories, and not all of them end, and not all of them, you know, we don't notice when, when some of them begin, even. Like, as in love stories, you know, sometimes you don't even know when a love story begins. So, it was interesting, because we had so many moving pieces with Valentina, with Gabina, with Ángeles, with Mária, and also the moving pieces with Alejandro and Romandía and, you know, and the police, you know, the investigation, that I think that what I really wanted, is to sort of establish the idea that that you don't get a curtain that closes on you and says, “we're done.”
 
It's sort of like life doesn't give you that. And so, I guess that's why it feels a little bit more like real life, because, because you can, you have this feeling that you're sort of very satisfied at what the season is closing, but also you do get the feeling that you could watch another episode right away. You know, you get the feeling that the story could go on. And I think that's a good place for a series, because we are very excited at the idea that, that maybe we'd get a second season. So, I also didn't want to, I didn't want to close down all the doors.
 
John Betancourt: For Bárbara, to continue to talk about the acting process for you. You mentioned your performance, was out of your comfort zone and you tried some new things. How did you tap into such raw emotion as an actor?
 
Bárbara Mori: Well, I, to be honest, I've been acting different for the last four years in my life. I've been acting for 27 but the last four I was I started a new process. And my new process has to be with energy, you know, and to tap into the energy of the character and let the character and let the scenes surprise me, you know. Before, me as an actress, I always was trying to get into, you know, this is the result of the scene, so I have to get there, you know. And now, in these last four years in my career, I've been like, you know, let the scene take you. I don't know where. We don't know where, which emotion we're gonna reach, but we're gonna reach some true emotion. So, let's go and with his hand (Fernando) and with, you know, Leonardo Sbaraglia, actor, that he works like this as well, and all the actors and actresses in the show that were very compromised with the scenes, you know, with the characters, with the show, and everyone was very ready to shoot, you know, all memorized and everything. So, it was perfect. The set was perfect to just play and see what happens.
 
This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

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