‘Blue Beetle’ Producer Told Xolo Mariduena ‘This Is Not Miguel’
Cobra Kai fans may have a long wait to see Miguel (Xolo Maridueña) again in Cobra Kai Season 6. But they’ll get to see him on the big screen in Blue Beetle. Maridueña has wrapped filming on the DC Comics movie which is due in theaters next year. But, he says, the producers had to tell him not to play Jamie Reyes like Miguel.
Maridueña was a guest on the Back to One podcast on Sept. 27 to discuss his process. When it came to Blue Beetle, Maridueña realized he was learning too much on his Cobra Kai persona.
DC didn’t make Xolo Maridueña audition for ‘Blue Beetle’
Maridueña said the producers of Blue Beetle offered him the role of Jamie Reyes. But, since he didn’t audition, he made some Cobra Kai assumptions.
“I had the blessed opportunity or whatever you call it, serendipitous, but I didn’t audition for Blue Beetle,” Maridueña said on Back to One. “Having these conversations with the director, he saw something in me, even once having had the role, I didn’t see in myself. There’s this sense of how can you be so sure about this when I don’t even know if I believe this?”
Angel Manuel Soto directed Blue Beetle. By the time Maridueña got to set, he figured the character out, but he remembers doing too much Miguel.
“I remember doing the chemistry reads and one of our producers came up to me at the end,” Maridueña said. “He’s like, ‘Look, we’re having a really great time with these chemistry reads. This isn’t Miguel. Let’s try to figure something else out.’ This is when I started going to my first coaching lessons ever.”
Xolo Maridueña assumed ‘Cobra Kai’ got him the job
Since he didn’t have to audition, Maridueña assumed it was Cobra Kai that got him on the Blue Beetle team’s radar. Not a bad assumption. Cobra Kai is the biggest show he’s been a part of and Miguel his most central, prominent character. But that wasn’t what they saw in him after all.
“When I was starting to explore what it meant to be a new character, I had this idea that oh, the director and the producers, they’ve seen Cobra Kai and that’s how I got the role,” Maridueña said. “So clearly they must want something similar to Miguel. How could they have entrusted me with this new project if they didn’t kind of want it to be like this past project?”
‘Blue Beetle’ pushed Xolo Maridueña out of his ‘Cobra Kai’ comfort zone
Maridueña didn’t feel pressure to create something new with Blue Beetle. Rather, he saw it as an opportunity. There may be the similarity that Miguel and Jamie are kids who develop powers, albeit Miguel learns a sport and Jamie gets super powers. Without spoiling Blue Beetle, fans of the comic book can probably imagine the different directions it goes.
They didn’t stress, but they made clear that this is an opportunity to bring something new to the table. That we’ve seen and we’ve grown to love characters like Miguel or Victor on Parenthood or what have you but this can be a really great opportunity to display something else. Whether that is displaying an acting ability or just displaying something different. That was really, really fun. I had so much fun working with the coach, Nancy Banks. I have to give her a shout out because I can’t imagine this would’ve been nearly as great feeling experience as it would’ve been without her.
Xolo Maridueña, Back to One podcast, 9/27/22
