Eva Longoria has suggested that Desperate Housewives would fall victim to cancel culture if it premiered today.
The actor starred in all eight seasons of the comedy-drama series, which ran from 2004 to 2012, as the spoiled but loveable housewife Gabrielle Solis.
Teri Hatcher (Susan Mayer), Felicity Huffman (Lynette Scavo) and Marcia Cross (Bree van de Kamp) completed the main cast, and together they dazzled audiences with charismatic performances in twist-laden storylines.
In a recent interview, Longoria looked back at her time on the show and expressed doubt when asked whether the programme could be rebooted for current audiences.
“I don't know if we could do the show today. I think we’d get cancelled,” she told Entertainment Tonight.
“I mean, not cancelled on TV but like cancelled in culture because it was so groundbreaking and we said and did so many things that were shocking at the time. I don’t know where these ladies would be now in their life.”
Longoria’s character in particular was involved in some eyebrow-raising plots. One of Gabrielle’s most notable storylines was her scandalous affair with her teen gardener, John (played by Jesse Metcalfe).
The actor shared that show creator Marc Cherry was not particularly enthusiastic at the prospect of bringing the show back, despite its high ratings and a strong fanbase.
According to Longoria, Cherry believes that “we fully explored these characters” – and she agrees.
“I could not sleep with one more person on that street – I was like, ‘I’ve slept with everybody. You’ve slept with everybody! We’ve exchanged husbands.’ It was like, ‘What else? What other stories could we possibly tell [with] these women?’ And so that’s Marc’s big, big thing; he’s like, ‘Why now?’ He doesn’t want to reboot just to reboot.”
Elsewhere in the interview, published on Tuesday (13 June), Longoria spoke about the importance of diversity behind the camera. She is the director of the new film Flamin’ Hot, which tells the story of how Mexican-American businessman Richard Montañez claimed to invent the spicy Cheetos snacks.
“It’s super important to me to get our stories told,” Longoria explained.
“It’s why I became a producer and director, is to have control of the narrative and the image that this industry puts out to the world because, you know, the images that are put out by Hollywood educate other communities about us.”
Both Desperate Housewives and Flamin’ Hot are streaming on Disney Plus now. You can read The Independent’s review of Flamin’ Hot here.
