Entertainment

Why 'Mr. Iglesias' Is Extra Likely To Get A Season 2 Compared To Other Netflix Shows

by Jack O'Keeffe
Screenshot/Netflix

Gabriel Iglesias should already be fairly familiar to Netflix comedy fans: within the last three years, he's released two stand-up specials on the platform, 2016's I'm Sorry For What I Said While I Was Hungry and this year's One Show Fits All. Come June 21, he'll once again be back on the site, but this time with his new scripted series Mr. Iglesias. And while it hasn't been confirmed that Mr. Iglesias will return for Season 2, the odds are pretty high that it'll get the green light eventually.

Iglesias has been a notable comedian for well over a decade now. He first gained prominence as a cast member on the original All That in 2000, then became more widely known from NBC's comedy talent show, Last Comic Standing, which he competed on in 2006. He didn't win, but it still helped to broaden his platform: since then, he's appeared in two Magic Mike movies and voiced characters in Smurfs, Coco, and UglyDolls, as well as released his aforementioned Netflix specials. And clearly, something about him is resonating. In a Mr. Iglesias featurette, Iglesias said that Netflix reached out to him about doing the show, which suggests that he's already been a hit with their subscribers and the company thinks he's worth further investing in. If even a fraction of Iglesias' fanbase — which equates to over a million followers on Twitter and nine million on Facebook — tunes into Mr. Iglesias, then it's likely it will be renewed.

Beyond that, Mr. Iglesias does have some other things going for it. For one, Netflix recently came under fire for canceling One Day At A Time, a comedy largely centered around the Latinx experience. Many fans saw it as the company divesting from diverse stories (similar outcry followed the cancellation of Sense8, which was similarly praised for its diverse, LGBTQ characters). Mr. Iglesias isn't about a Latinx family, as ODAT was, but it does feature a diverse cast and will hopefully put a focus on minority voices and stories.

Plus, not only does the show sound funny, but it has a great message. It follows Iglesias' character, Gabe, a high school history teacher overseeing a class of smart, misfit kids who've been cast aside by the school's bully assistant principal (Office alum Oscar Nunez). According to Entertainment Weekly, Iglesias dedicated the series to a former teacher of his own, who at the end of the pilot episode he thanks for, "believing in me when I didn't want to believe in myself." In the series, Mr. Iglesias similarly encourages and advocates for his students.

"It was important to me that the show be funny but also have substance," Iglesias told EW. "My producer Kevin Hench told me in the beginning, 'I really want this show to have corazon [Spanish for 'heart'].' We didn't want this to be a wacky show, but for it to also have feelings."

With all of that in mind, Mr. Iglesias certainly deserves a second season. Time will tell if Netflix can recognize that, but as they're clearly fans of Iglesias, the show's future looks bright.