Drama Promised Land, about a Latinx family vying for wealth and power in California’s Sonoma Valley, begins on ABC Monday, January 24. Matt Lopez created the show and the cast includes John Ortiz as Joe Sandoval, Cecilia Suárez as Lettie Sandoval, Augusto Aguilera as Mateo, Christina Ochoa as Veronica Sandoval, Mariel Molino as Carmen Sandoval, Tonatiuh as Antonio Sandoval and Andres Velez as Carlos Rincón.
Promised Land is written and executive produced by Lopez. Adam Kolbrenner, Maggie Malina and Michael Cuesta also executive produce and Cuesta directs.
“This is a story about love, hope, ambition, power and the beauty — and cost — of pursuing the American Dream,” said Lopez, who called John Steinbeck’s East of Eden an inspiration.
“If you reduced this great novel to a logline, you’d have one hell of a network drama, but in theme and character, it strives for so much more,” he said. A multigenerational epic about two rival California families, East of Eden was a big influence.
The Sandoval family owns a successful vineyard and wine-producing business. “It has been a great opportunity to learn a little bit about wine and how the complexity of wine can be reflected in all of these characters and these storylines,” Malina said at a TCA event. “So it's a wonderful setting and a wonderful way to tell a story through that filter.”
