family drama
In film and television show, television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or docudrama, semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humour, humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms t ...
television series that premiered on January 24, 2022 on
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
. The story focuses on Joe Sandoval, patriarch of two blended Latino families who runs a successful
Sonoma County, California
Sonoma County () is a county (United States), county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, its population was 488,863. Its county seat and largest city is Santa Rosa, California, Santa Rosa. It is to the n ...
vineyard and is preparing to hand the vineyard's management to one of his children. Two sub-plots involve the challenges of
undocumented immigrants
Illegal immigration is the migration of people into a country in violation of the immigration laws of that country or the continued residence without the legal right to live in that country. Illegal immigration tends to be financially upwar ...
from Mexico who come to work at the vineyard, and conflicts with a hotel owner who blames Sandoval (who bought the vineyard from her father) for her father's death. The final five episodes of the series premiered on
Hulu
Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television serie ...
. In May 2022, the series was officially canceled after one season.
Cast and characters
Main
*
John Ortiz
John Ortiz (born May 23, 1968) is an American actor. He is known for his antagonist role as Arturo Braga in ''Fast & Furious'' (2009) and ''Fast & Furious 6'' (2013), and Clyde in ''Jack Goes Boating'' (2010), which earned him a nomination for t ...
as Joe Sandoval, the patriarch of the Sandoval family and owner of Heritage House Vineyards in Sonoma Valley
*
Cecilia Suárez
María Cecilia Suárez de Garay, known professionally as Cecilia Suárez (Mexican ; born November 22, 1971), is a Mexican actress and a prominent activist working with the United Nations and European Union campaigning against femicide and viole ...
as Lettie Sandoval, Joe's second wife and the matriarch of the Sandoval family
* Augusto Aguilera as Mateo Flores, Lettie's son from a previous marriage and Joe's stepson who is the general manager of Heritage House Vineyards. He is also Billy's son and therefore secretly Joe's nephew.
*
Christina Ochoa
Christina Ochoa (born Cristina Ochoa Lopez, 25 January 1985 in Barcelona) is a Spanish actress, science communicator, and producer.
Early life
Ochoa is the grand-niece of 1959 Nobel Prize winner Severo Ochoa,Katya Martín as Juana Sánchez, a young undocumented immigrant who crosses the border into the United States with her sister, Rosa in 1987. She becomes Leticia/Letty with fake documents from Guillermo/Billy.
* Rolando Chusan as Billy Rincón, an undocumented Heritage House Vineyards worker and Carlos' older brother in 1987. His birthname is Roberto; he assumes the name Guillermo (William/Billy in English) with fake documents.
*
Bellamy Young
Bellamy Young (born Amy Maria Young; February 19, 1970) is an American actress, producer and singer, best known for her role as Melody "Mellie" Grant in the ABC drama series'' Scandal'' (2012–2018). In 2014 for her portrayal of Mellie, she won t ...
as Margaret Honeycroft, Joe's ex-wife and Veronica, Carmen, and Antonio's mother who is determined to take back Heritage House Vineyards. She owns Honeycroft Hotel and is a hotel tycoon.
Recurring
* Ariana Guerra as Rosa, Juana's sister in 1987
* Miguel Ángel García as Junior, Joe and Lettie's son and the youngest Sandoval sibling
*
Andrew J. West
Andrew James West (born November 22, 1983) is an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Fisher in the ABC Family comedy drama ''Greek'', and as Gareth in the AMC horror drama '' The Walking Dead''. He appeared as a guest star in th ...
as Michael Paxton, Veronica's husband
* Natalia del Riego as Daniela, an undocumented immigrant from El Salvador who is recently fired as a maid from the Sandoval mansion due to her immigration status
*
Yul Vazquez
Yul Vazquez (born March 18, 1965) is a Cuban-American actor and musician. He has appeared in ''Runaway Bride (film), Runaway Bride'' (1999), ''Bad Boys II'' (2003), ''War of the Worlds (2005 film), War of the Worlds'' (2005), ''American Gangster ...
as Father Ramos, Joe's brother and Mateo's father
*
Tom Amandes
Tom Amandes (born March 9, 1959) is an American actor. His best-known role to date is that of Eliot Ness in the 1990s television series ''The Untouchables''; he also played Geena Davis' boyfriend in ''The Long Kiss Goodnight'', and Abraham Linco ...
as O.M. Honeycroft, Margaret's father in 1987
* Kerri Medders as Young Margaret
*
Julio Macias
Julio Arturo Macias (born March 20, 1990) is a Mexican actor. Following a series of cameo appearances, Macias had his breakthrough playing Oscar Diaz on the comedy-drama series ''On My Block'' (2018–2021), for which he received two Imagen Awa ...
as Javier, the newly hired general manager of Heritage House Vineyards and Antonio's secret former boyfriend
Episodes
Production
Development
In February 2021,
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
ordered a pilot for a family drama titled ''Promised Land'', originally titled ''American Heritage'', from writer and executive producer Matt Lopez. In April 2021, it was announced that
Michael Cuesta
Michael Cuesta (born July 8, 1963) is an American film and television director, best known for his independent films, specially for having co-written and directed the 2001 film, '' L.I.E.'' He has directed and produced television series including ...
would direct the pilot episode and be an executive producer. On August 11, 2021, ''Promised Land'' was given a series order. On May 6, 2022, ABC officially canceled the series after one season.
Casting
In March 2021,
Christina Ochoa
Christina Ochoa (born Cristina Ochoa Lopez, 25 January 1985 in Barcelona) is a Spanish actress, science communicator, and producer.
Early life
Ochoa is the grand-niece of 1959 Nobel Prize winner Severo Ochoa,John Ortiz
John Ortiz (born May 23, 1968) is an American actor. He is known for his antagonist role as Arturo Braga in ''Fast & Furious'' (2009) and ''Fast & Furious 6'' (2013), and Clyde in ''Jack Goes Boating'' (2010), which earned him a nomination for t ...
was cast in the role as Joe Sandoval. Three days later, Cecilia Suárez & Augusto Aguilera were cast as Lettie Sandoval and Mateo Flores respectively. The following week, Tonatiuh Elizarraraz was cast as Antonio Sandoval, and the day after that, Katya Martín was cast as Juana Sánchez. In May 2021, Rolando Chusan was cast as Billy Rincón. In October 2021,
Bellamy Young
Bellamy Young (born Amy Maria Young; February 19, 1970) is an American actress, producer and singer, best known for her role as Melody "Mellie" Grant in the ABC drama series'' Scandal'' (2012–2018). In 2014 for her portrayal of Mellie, she won t ...
was cast as Margaret Honeycroft. In January 2022,
Yul Vazquez
Yul Vazquez (born March 18, 1965) is a Cuban-American actor and musician. He has appeared in ''Runaway Bride (film), Runaway Bride'' (1999), ''Bad Boys II'' (2003), ''War of the Worlds (2005 film), War of the Worlds'' (2005), ''American Gangster ...
,
Julio Macias
Julio Arturo Macias (born March 20, 1990) is a Mexican actor. Following a series of cameo appearances, Macias had his breakthrough playing Oscar Diaz on the comedy-drama series ''On My Block'' (2018–2021), for which he received two Imagen Awa ...
, Ariana Guerra, Kerri Medders,
Tom Amandes
Tom Amandes (born March 9, 1959) is an American actor. His best-known role to date is that of Eliot Ness in the 1990s television series ''The Untouchables''; he also played Geena Davis' boyfriend in ''The Long Kiss Goodnight'', and Abraham Linco ...
, Natalia del Riego, and Miguel Angel Garcia joined the cast in recurring roles.
Release
The series premiered on January 24, 2022, on
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
. Due to low ratings, ABC pulled ''Promised Land'' from the schedule, effective after the fifth episode on February 21, 2022. The last five episodes are set to stream exclusively on
Hulu
Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television serie ...
, starting from the sixth episode on March 1, 2022. Previously, episodes had been posted to Hulu next-day after premiere as is custom with ABC shows. Internationally, the series premiered on
Disney+
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment
Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and deligh ...
under the dedicated streaming hub Star as an original series, on July 6 2022. In Latin America, the series premiered on
Star+
A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma held together by its gravity. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night, but their immense distances from Earth ma ...
on July 27, 2022. ''Promised Land'' was later removed from Disney+, Star+, Hulu and all other Disney owned streaming services on October 2022 despite only being available recently. This is one of the first few titles along with ''Rebel'' to be removed from Disney+ due to Disney's budget cuts.
Reception
Critical response
The
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
website
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
reported a 100% approval rating with an average rating of 7.4/10, based on 7 critic reviews.
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 72 out of 100 based on 5 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".