“LES MISERABLES” COMING TO U.S. TELEVISION

MIAMI – Mexicans Aracely Arambula and Erik Hayser star in a present-day version of Victor Hugo’s “Les Miserables,” adapted for Spanish-speaking television audiences in the United States. Venezuelan soap-opera writer Valentina Parraga, whose most recent successes include the script for “La Patrona,” penned the script for “Los Miserables,” to debut Sept. 30 on Telemundo. In the Parraga version, the story spins around Lucia Duran (Arambula), a woman hunted by a law enforcement agent after she spent 11 years in prison for a crime she did not commit. Lucia must escape Daniel (Hayser), who is at the same time the man who persecutes her and the man she loves, in the series with a cast including Aylin Mujica and Gabriel Porras in the roles as villains. “Without villains there is no story,” Mujica told Efe. “They are a key element in any drama. On one side you have a character who wishes for something, and on the other side you have the villains who prevent her from realizing those wishes. In fact, I think the villains are the main characters.” Mujica personifies Liliana, Lucia’s half-sister, who is always conniving to undo the protagonist. Porras, in turn, is in the role of Olegario Marrero, a.k.a. “El diablo,” who appears sympathetic, but is “a merciless human being capable of committing horrible crimes.” Source: Latin American Herald Tribune