Trese director and producer Jay Oliva has obviously read the reactions of viewers to Liza Soberano’s performance in the Netflix original animated series.
Liza lent her voice to the main character Alexandra Trese in the Filipino-dubbed version of the series.
Filipino-American actress Shay Mitchell, popular for her role as Emily Fields in the series Pretty Little Liars, was chosen for the English-dubbed version.
On Twitter today, June 15, 2021, Jay recalled how he came up with the decision to cast Shay and Liza as the voice actors behind Alexandra Trese after speaking to Trese creator Budjette Tan.
He wrote, “When casting for the role of Alexandra, I spoke to creator @Budjette about how he envisioned the character. He basically said that she’s like Batman/Bruce Wayne. She’s cold and unemotional at times because of all the things she’s experienced in life. #TreseOnNetflix #Lexandotis”
In his next tweet, Jay praised both Shay and Liza for bringing “unique performances that was better” than he imagined as the voices behind Alexandra.
He continued, “I’ve cast A LOT of Batman/Bruce Wayne’s in my career so I know a thing or two about tortured souls who persevere to do right and defend those who cannot defend themselves. Both @shaymitch and @lizasoberano brought unique performances that was better than I could have imagined.”
Jay then said that despite the viewers’ different preferences on the dubbing, he wanted to focus on celebrating the response of the world to a story depicting Filipino mythology.
He also praised the other language actors who played Alexandra Trese in other versions.
Jay wrote, ”So whether you like one more than the other or if you like them both I think the thing to celebrate the most is that we have brought Filipino mythology and lore to the world and world is responding by how much they love it! Thank you Philippines, your support made this happen
“On a side note, the other language actors who play Alexandra are pretty dang awesome too! Watching it in the other languages I actually forgot I worked on the show and it felt so new and fresh! @Netflix dubbing team did an incredible job!”
Trese, which is based on a Pinoy graphic novel by Budjette Tan and KaJO Badisimo, premiered on Netflix on June 11, 2021. It remains the number one content on Netflix today.
Since its premiere, Filipino viewers have been posting their reactions—mostly about #PinoyPride—on social media.
There were some who criticized Liza’s performance, suggesting that Netflix should have hired a professional voice actor.
In a roundtable interview with PEP.ph (Philippine Entertainment Portal) and other publications, writer-producer Tanya Yuson explained how Liza was chosen to voice the Pinoy-dubbed version of Alexandra Trese.
.While Liza’s popularity carried some weight in the selection process, it was her natural ability to deliver the role that sealed the deal.
“If it was just Liza being popular, but she did not fit the role, it wouldn’t have been something that did not match.
“But the other thing we like is that of course she’s very popular, but she’s very talented.
“We felt that her range would be a great surprise for everyone to see. She could pull off a role like this and she worked very hard, she read everything and she just put her whole heart and soul into doing it and the hard work pays off and we believe that she did really really well.”