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Cobra Kai has led Xolo Maridueña to big things like Blue Beetle. After wrapping Cobra Kai Season 5, Maridueña filmed the DC Comics movie as the title hero. Now, he reveals he tested positive for COVID-19 right before filming began. 

'Blue Beetle' star Xolo Maridueña smiles at an Atlanta Hawks game
Xolo Maridueña | Paras Griffin/Getty Images

Maridueña spoke about his Blue Beetle experience on the July 26 episode of his Lone Lobos podcast. Cobra Kai Season 5 premieres Sept. 9 and Blue Beetle will be out Aug. 18, 2023.

‘Blue Beetle’ required Xolo Maridueña to take COVID tests

Early in the coronavirus, Hollywood instituted COVID-19 safety protocols so movies and television could resume work. Those protocols involved frequent testing to screen out positive cases from interacting with others. While in pre-production on Blue Beetle, Maridueña recalled his frequent testing. He just found his COVID ID number from those tests and it brought back memories.

“Because I was going to different places, Warner Bros places and I had to get one every two days,” Maridueña said on Lone Lobos. “And I put it down and it made me realize oh shoot, before heading out to Blue Beetle, reading that number always was like all right you’re two days closer, all right, you’re two days closer. Every time you’re seeing this thing, every time I’m seeing this number and reading it out to the COVID lady, it’s either Monday, Wednesday or Friday and I’m two days closer to this project.”

A positive test meant no more testing was necessary

The only time testing stops is once there is a positive case. Fortunately, Maridueña recovered from COVID and then no longer had to test for several months. 

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A week before we started filming, I got COVID. The way production works, at least this one, is if you get COVID, you don’t have to test for 90 days. And the production didn’t even last 90 days so I didn’t test the rest of production. It was never that oh, it’s two days. During it, it’s just I’m never thinking about it. It’s just what’s happening today? What do I have to film today? What do I have to film tomorrow? I’m not even thinking about oh, it’s been two days. We’re 30 days out of however many days of production there were. Then I got back and saw it and I was like oh my God, it just flew by.

Xolo Maridueña, Lone Lobos, 7/26/22

Filming ‘Blue Beetle’ was intense 

As the title character, Maridueña must be in almost every scene of Blue Beetle. That’s why he didn’t get much time off. 

“There were probably two or three occasions where I had two or three days back to back off,” Maridueña said. “Other than that it was work, work work. And it was exhilarating. It wasn’t tiring. Today was my first off day and I was just like oh my God, I don’t have to [do anything]. It was so fun. I’m 18 hours away from me just filming and I’m already ready to get back into it. I’m excited for whatever the next thing is.”

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