Call off the search, a Latina-led show is no longer M.I.A! A new drama is dropping, and it has equal parts novela and neon. It’s all action and very Miami. Gente, say hola to M.I.A.

M.I.A. follows Etta Tiger Jonze (Shannon Gisela) around the mangroves of Miami as a tour guide for her family’s fishing charter business. When the show starts, the University of Miami hopeful is slinging raw chicken for the gators and telling jokes from the bow of a boat, just waiting for her passion to come to the surface. But, before she hooks her future, the present comes and sticks a big barb in her.

Turns out, the family business isn’t tackling tourists for good Yelp reviews, they’re actually drug runners for one of the many drug cartels in Miami. But, when the tight line runs out on an ill-fated run, the cartels get vengeance – and only Etta is left behind to avenge the death of her entire family. Fortunately for us, she is surrounded by la comunidad, and it is here that she finds her path, among some serious Latino talent.

Danay Garcia (Prison Break)as Etta’s madre and Marta Milans (The Pier) join Gisela in M.I.A. As for the hombres, there is some legit Latin heat with Alberto Guerra (Griselda), Maurice Compte (Narcos), Gerardo Celasco (The Waterfront), and a guest appearance by Edward James Olmos.

“It feels like such a dream come true, like I’m still pinching myself constantly that I have have been the lucky one who gets to link arms with Danay and Marta and Tova [Feldshuh] and Loretta Devine and all of these really incredibly powerful women,” Gisela tells Latina Media Co. “And then being Latina,” she continues, “It’s interesting to see many iterations of what it means to be Hispanic. So Etta is an example of being bicultural, and then we have all of these other iterations of it. So I’m really glad that there’s kind of a multitude of different flavors of what it means to be Latin in our show.”

The setting of Miami adds to the series’ ambiance and authenticity with the city being its own character on the show. “The fact that we’re telling a story that it’s in Miami, it amplifies the whole experience,” says Garcia.

That, and the fact that so many Latinas are found all over the M.I.A. “The women that we were around, like Karen Campbell (showrunner) and our writers. You know, this is a story about women, women struggling, thriving. We had so many female writers, Latina writers, and that is something that kind of never happens, like we have Debbie (Moore Muño) and we have Christina (Piña).” She continues, “They were really stories from a woman’s perspective in a very dark male world. It was a good balance to have that in our show. It’s very hard to find to have a project like that. It was beautiful.”

It is beautiful. But it also had to be brutal. But that was by design, particularly in the action-packed pilot.

“We really have to establish the whole universe that has to collapse… For the past 20 years, you can see Etta’s world, how she grew up, how she lived,” says Garcia. “It was a lot. But so much depth and so much love was surrounding us. That’s what I hang on to. This love that we’re creating is an energy that is going to fuel Etta for what’s coming.”

Thankfully, the cast and crew had cafecitos to keep them going. “All the people that I was surrounded by have an immense work ethic,” Gisela explains. “Having a local crew, there was so much pride on set for having a show in South Florida made by people, many of whom were locals.”

Overall, the show is paced a lot like a cafecito. It is strong. It is short. And, it is likely to leave you buzzing. For some, it may be a bit too much and too strong all at once. With all the episodes dropping at once, some viewers may feel overstimulated, but not those of us accustomed to cafecito at all times of day.

While I am not thrilled that another show is featuring our community as drug lords and hoodlums, I am choosing to focus on the fact that it is almost entirely Latino-led and written by our own. But I know to hate the game, not the players – and I personally love that these players are all Latino!

All nine episodes of M.I.A. drop on Thursday, May 7, 2026, on Peacock.