UNDERAGE’ is the 1980 movie that catapulted Maricel Soriano and Snooky Serna to stardom, along with Dina Bonnevie who was earlier launched in “Katorse”.
Now, GMA Network is coming up with its own millennial version of a TV series, “Underage”, starring Lexi Gonzales, Elijah Alejo and Hailey Mendes as the Serrano sisters on GMA Afternoon Prime, directed by Rechie del Carmen and Paul Sta. Ana.
The story is now totally different from the movie as it turns out there is a secret in the identity of the three girls.
Lexi as Celine is 17, the responsible eldest sister and dreams of owning her own department store someday.
Hailey as Carrie is 16, rebellious, artistic and aspires to be an architect.
Elijah as Chynna is 15, very bubbly, kikay, and aims to be vlogger-social media influencer.
This time, they will be suspects in the killing of a young man, Leo Guerrero, played by Nikki Co.
Lexi as Celine will make a sacrifice and confess to the crime even if she’s innocent, just so her sisters will be set free.
She is then confined in a youth care facility for juvenile offenders.
The theme song is “Huwag Kang Matakot” sung by Hannah Prescillas.
Snooky Serna, who’s with the original movie, will be joining the cast of the show as Velda, one of the girls’ oppressors and mother of Nikki Co.
Also in the cast are Sunshine Cruz as their mother Lena, Smokey Manaloto as their father Delfin, Yayo Aguila as their aunt Becca who also maltreats them, Jean Saburit as Ylvira Gatchalian, Christian Vasquez as Dominic, Jome Silayan as Rico, Maey Bautista as Remy, Vince Crisostomo as Tope and Gil Cuerva as Lance.
Lexi Gonzales is a runnerup in the last Starstruck search and she’s really so fortunate as she is always doing a show. She was in “Love You Stranger” on primetime, then she did “Running Man” in Korea, and now, she’s in “Underage”.
Elijah Alejo is a former child actress who became part of the successful “Prima Donnas” series, Parts 1 and 2.
Hailey Mendez is a newcomer who appeared in the movie “Magikland”, in the Pilipino adaptation of the Korean hit, “Descendants of the Sun”, and the recent primetime soap, “What We Could Be”.
The question now is: will the chemistry between Lexi, Hailey and Elijah be as successful as that of Maricel, Snooky and Dina in the original movie?
Well, that remains to be seen, of course. It is up to the TV viewers who will support this new version of “Underage” starting Monday afternoon, replacing “Nakarehas na Puso” on GMA Afternoon Prime/
