Talking ‘Acapulco’ Season 3 With Austin Winsberg And Sam Laybourne

Máximo (Enrique Arrizon) ended season 2 of Acapulco with the girl of his dreams (Camila Perez‘s Julia) and a job promotion, but those aren’t the only changes coming to Las Colinas in season 3. Having grown close to many of his colleagues at the hotel, Máximo is about to learn the hard way that being assistant head of operations might put a strain on some of those friendships.

For more on what to expect in season three, check out this interview with series co-creator, Austin Winsberg, and current showrunner, Sam Laybourne, below:

Rachel Bellwoar: Before Acapulco, you also worked together on Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist (Adam as series creator and Sam as an executive producer). Was that where you first met?

Sam Laybourne: We actually met briefly at a pilot punch-up session for our mutual friend, DJ Nash. But when I heard about Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist, I moved heaven and earth to get a meeting with Austin. In that meeting, I watched the pilot and immediately fell in love with the world Austin created.

Austin Winsberg: Sam and I had met briefly in a punch-up room for a mutual friend’s show, but I had heard his name (and incredible reputation) for years. Sam is truly one of the most beloved, most talented and most inspiring writers in the industry. He has an amazing ability to write incredible jokes and comedy but also knows how to really tell stories with emotion and heart. That combination is so difficult to find in writers and was exactly the tone I was looking for with both Zoey’s and Acapulco. When we started working together on Zoey’s he really became an invaluable sounding board, creative leader and partner. So when the job opened up on Acapulco, he was honestly my very first call. And it has been a true joy working on the show together.

Bellwoar: Both of those shows heavily feature music. Is it difficult finding the right 80’s songs to coincide with the plot of each episode on Acapulco?

Laybourne: I have to say this is one of Austin’s superpowers. As showrunner of Season Three I got to come in and play with the conceit Austin already established (the pool singers performing Spanish versions of English language ’80s hits). The great thing is that because Eugenio Derbez is such an inventive and creative “unreliable narrator,” it allows the writers to find fresh ways to link the music to the story. Also, our incredible music team not only reconceives ’80s hits but they also find current songs to begin shows in the present at times. They also include big needle drops at the end of each episode that brilliantly fit thematically with the show.

Winsberg: Finding the right songs for the show is one of the most fun things about doing it. I am a huge fan of ’80s music and there are so many great ’80s hits to choose from. We also work with incredible music supervisors – Joe Rodriguez and Javier Nuno. These men are endlessly talented and also come up with countless inventive ideas. It truly just comes down to what we are trying to get across thematically in the moment and then finding the right song (and tone) to go along with what’s happening plot-wise. Once we land on the right song for our pool singers then it’s all about letting Joe and Javier and our two amazing performers – Rossana De Leon and Rodrigo Urquidi figure out how to do the most fun Spanish version of it. (Though they have also sung songs that are already in Spanish…). Joe and Javier also help pick the needle drop songs that usually start and end the episodes. The opening songs usually try to set a tone for what’s to come. And the end songs tend to have some connection to what’s come before. But figuring out all those pieces brings us much joy. We even have dance parties in the writer’s room sometimes and listen to songs on speakers and try to decide what will fit the moment the best!

Bellwoar: In season 3, Máximo has been promoted to assistant head of operations at Las Colinas. As part of that promotion, however, he starts to be exposed to the darker side of running a hotel. Were you inspired by any real accounts of going-ons behind-the-scenes at hotels?

Laybourne: Absolutely. Both Austin and I are constantly peeking behind the scenes whenever we are lucky enough to travel. I recently wandered into the entrails of Atlantis Resort in Grand Bahama to ask employees what really goes down at their massive hotel. Further, we have a team of amazing writers who share their own specific stories. One of our writers, Bernardo Cubria, has a grandfather who was a hotel manager in Acapulco in his youth. In our first meeting, Bernardo held up the guayabera uniform his grandfather wore to work each day.

Winsberg: I’m not going to lie, any time I even walk into a hotel or resort now my entire perspective has changed. I am way more interested in the internal politics and dynamics and the plight of the staff then I am about simply enjoying my stay. I try to interview anyone who is willing to talk to me about all the drama, the gossip, the funny things that happen. It’s very possible that the dead body episode this season may have been inspired by a real story or two I heard along the way. No one wants to see ambulances or be thinking about dead people while they’re trying to enjoy their vacations!

Bellwoar: Meanwhile, in the present day we get to see more older versions of some of the main characters. What was the casting process like for that, and how did you decide who to recast and who to put aging makeup on?

Laybourne: Initially, because we have two characters playing Maximo – Eugenio Derbez in the present and Enrique Arrizon in the past – we intended to recast all present day characters, as they did with Memo and Older Memo in Season Two. BUT… [SPOILER ALERT for Episode 6], Austin had the genius idea to cast Hector, as the same actor in both time periods – a comment on how he’s such a timeless hunk! Of course he was able to cheat the aging process!

Winsberg: It’s always challenging trying to cast older versions of characters that people have gotten to know over three seasons. Not only do they have to be similar physical types, but they also need to mimic their vocal patterns or gestures or essence. And for our Latin characters it’s also very important that we cast people who come from the same region to preserve authenticity. For most of the older versions of the characters they don’t have a ton of screen time either so they need to be identifiable and feel like the characters very quickly. So it is a lot to ask of people. We try to be as thorough as we can in the casting process and then go with the best choices that are presented to us. As far as casting an older version of Hector, Rafael Cebrian is very idiosyncratic in his look and line deliveries. He felt like a challenging character to find an older equivalent for. But even more than that – it seemed funny to us that he was a character that has probably aged very well over the years. There’s something timeless about him. When we thought about putting a little ageing make-up on him and then having him interact with older versions of the other characters – it just made us laugh, so we went for it. We also thought there are a lot of similarities between Lupe (Regina Orozco) and her niece Lorena (Carolina Moreno). The main difference is Lupe is so negative and Lorena is so positive. So we thought it would be a fun spin to have Regina play older Lorena – and force Regina to smile. Ha!

Bellwoar: We also get to see how much Los Colinas has changed since the 80’s. Was it fun getting to reimagine that set?

Laybourne: It was huge fun. We set up a fictional bar where Julia’s amazing dress shop used to be called “Mr. Tortugas,” which is a nod to some of the over-the-top restaurants that exist in the tourism industry in Mexico. Our wonderful Production Designer, Nico Scabini, was able to magically re-dress areas of the hotel in present day to land the concept that the flavor of the ’80s has been lost to time. We play the comedy of what it’s like when a beloved landmark gets taken over by a more corporate hotel chain. As always, Las Colinas is a character on the show. Only now it’s an extremely different character!

Winsberg: It was fun and depressing reimagining Las Colinas. The whole point in the show is that Las Colinas has become very corporate and chain-like. So while we had fun coming up with ways to poke fun at corporate feeling hotels it was sad to think that this once vibrant, colorful, specific place had become so dull and watered down. Knowing we were going to have to paint those iconic pink walls a depressing yellow color felt like a symbol for a loss of joy and freedom and a statement on how Big Business and corporate culture can sometimes rob things of what made them special.

Bellwoar: At the end of last season we briefly met Máximo’s daughter, Paloma (Vico Escorcia), but she’s not the only new cast member. Is there anything you can share about the other new characters?

Laybourne: We are thrilled to bring in three amazing actors this year for extended performances. We have Cristo Fernandez playing Paloma’s free spirit, artsy husband (who Maximo isn’t so sure about) and the accomplished Jamie Camil comes to the resort as a new, demanding and devastatingly handsome co-owner. In addition to these huge gets, we introduce one of Memo’s many, many sisters, Dulce, who is played by the hilarious Karen Rodriguez. Spoiler alert, but unlike her name suggests, Dulce may not be that “sweet” after all…

Winsberg: There are several new characters we introduce in season three. The first is Alejandro Vera – played by the amazing Jaime Camil. We wanted to bring in the new co-owner of the hotel to keep Diane (Jessica Collins) on her toes and to serve as a potential new love interest. Watching the two of them banter and flirt and one-up each other with their gamesmanship was some of the most fun stuff to write and watch all season. We also wanted to bring in a worthy rival for Maximo so it wasn’t just a given that he would get the role of Head of Operations once Don Pablo retired. When we came up with the idea that the rival should be Memo’s sister it made the stakes way bigger and more personal. Karen Rodriguez (who plays Memo’s sister Dulce) was new to us but an incredible discovery. She is so smart and funny and quick on her feet that she really becomes a viable threat to Maximo’s ascension within the resort. From minute one she fit in beautifully with the whole cast. One more new cast member is Paloma’s husband, Gustavo. We had been desperate to get Cristo Fernandez (from Ted Lasso) into the show in any way possible! We realized he could be a great comedic foil for Older Maximo and we were thrilled when he said yes. We feel very fortunate to have so many amazing new people joining the cast but we also have such a deep bench of great actors in our ensemble that to add anyone else they really need to enhance the world or complicate the story for our main characters. Jaime, Karen and Cristo have been wonderful and really help elevate the whole show.

Bellwoar: By nature of the show’s design, most of Acapulco is told from older Máximo’s point of view. What made you want to give Héctor a spotlight episode this year?

Laybourne: We were fascinated with unpacking the way guests view hotel employees and the masks they wear to help create a fantasy for everyone they are serving. But obviously what we see poolside does not complete the portrait of Hector. And with such an incredible actor in Rafael Cebrián, we realized we could dimensionalize Hector in a way that would make our viewers fall in love with ALL aspects of his character. He may seem like a goofy, over-the-top flirt at Las Colinas, but there is much, much more going on beneath the surface…

Winsberg: I always love the idea of dimensionalizing characters in surprising ways or seeing sides of people you never know or changing your perspective on them. Hector is a character we have seen one way for a couple seasons but haven’t always known what’s really going on underneath the surface or what his home life looks like. It felt like there was a real opportunity there to recontextualize him and surprise the viewers to show that both his home life and his internal life may not be exactly what the audience anticipated. And that – in reality – he is far deeper and has a way more complex life outside the resort than anyone could ever know. Rafael Cebrian is such a strong actor that he brought so much more humanity and depth to a character that on the surface could feel one-note at times. Now that we know more about him I think it puts the audience even more on his side and allows us to take that character in so many new directions.

Bellwoar: The first two episodes this season take place on holidays – Cinco de Mayo and Mother’s Day, respectively. Did you always know this season would be premiering around the same time?

Laybourne: We did not! Usually we premiere in the fall but this was an extremely cool pivot that Apple assisted us with. Once we moved to a spring 2024 window to premiere the season, they smartly landed us in May – where we picked up a month later – timeline wise, in the past – from when Season 2 ended…

Winsberg: No! The show normally premieres in the Fall. But the way it worked out this season the show premiered in the Spring. It was a nice happy accident that the episodes came out around the same time and allowed for some clever cross-promotion with the holidays!

Bellwoar: Are there any storylines or character pairings you’re especially excited to see fans’ reactions to?

Laybourne: Yes! One of the amazing things about getting a third season – THANK YOU APPLE! – is that you can start pairing characters with new folks to discover new comedic and emotional dynamics. This year we had so much fun pairing Chad (Chord Overstreet) with many new faces due to his self-imposed “rotation” doing all the jobs at Las Colinas. Also, we found a very colorful (and spandex-related) way to pair Maximo’s mom, Nora (Vanessa Bauche), with Diane, his boss. And this unexpected friendship is going to both make audiences laugh AND cry together. Two incredibly women teaming up for scenes is always a great idea! We also enjoy a great storyline with Esteban (Carlos Corona) and Sara (Regina Reynoso) this year and Julia and Lorena – who are best friends in real life – get to deepen their relationship on the show!

Winsberg: I think any time you put characters together that you’re not used to seeing together it automatically makes the world feel bigger and gives the show all sorts of new comedic possibilities. Because we are in our third season we had the benefit this year of saying – okay, now that you know these people, who would be fun to pair them with? So we get to do an episode with Nora and Julia or something that would seem impossible on the surface – Nora and Diane! Hector and Memo get a lot more to play together this year. Pairing Esteban and Sara for several episodes in their own story was another unexpected treat. Also allowing Julia and Lorena (Camila Perez and Carolina Moreno) to have real scenes together was awesome because they are best friends in real life – even before the show! And, of course, with Chad moving around to every different department in the hotel it allowed Chord Overstreet to have a new acting partner every episode. I think new pairings keep a show fresh and also show that when you put any of our characters together it can be funny and surprising!

Bellwoar: Thanks for agreeing to this interview, Austin and Sam!

New episodes of Acapulco Season 3 stream Wednesdays on Apple TV+.