Catrina: “[Lucha Underground is] taking over” – Rolling Stone Interview Highlights

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Catrina LU S2E5

Lucha Underground‘s dark mistress Catrina, AKA Karlee Perez, recently did an interview with Rolling Stone. You can check out the highlights below!

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On what Lucha Underground‘s growing popularity has been like for her, Perez said: “It’s so crazy. The fanbase has quadrupled so quickly. I don’t think anyone was expecting that. You can see how far it’s come ­– we just started filming season 3, and it’s already been extended. I’m not totally sure how many more episodes we have, but I think it’s around 14 more. It just shows what the future could hold for Lucha Undergound. The way that it’s growing is tremendous. We’re taking over, in a way that hasn’t been done before. I’m really excited to be a part of that.” No doubt about that.

Perez also shared her first impressions on the show: “Chris DeJoseph, who is amazing, came to me about this character, Catrina. He said that I was the first one on his mind, and there wasn’t really another person on the list behind me. When they called me up, I didn’t quite get the character, and I wasn’t really sure about everything. So I asked who was a part of [Lucha Underground], and they said Robert Rodriguez and Mark Burnett. Anybody who knows anything about entertainment knows those names. The main reason I left WWE was because of acting – Lucha Underground gives me that ability to act, both in the company and outside of it. I wasn’t totally sure about the character or the organization, but as soon as they mentioned Robert Rodriguez, I jumped on the opportunity.”

Her thoughts on her character, Catrina, and her development: “Catrina is obviously incredibly manipulative. There’s more to her, though. Over the past two seasons, we’ve seen layers start to come out. She started as simply a valet for Mil Muertes, and started season two owning the Temple and Lucha Underground. You see what she’s capable of, but she’s stayed so cool for so long that eventually there’s going to be a boom. People will eventually learn more about her and her backstory – people tell me she’s secretly an old woman, or a ghost, or whatever, and I just laugh. I just love that they are so into it that they can come up with these theories about her.”

Like many in the professional wrestling world, Perez was also heavily yet positively impacted by Dusty Rhodes: “I worked with him every day. He was my everything. He protected me and he would kick everyone out of the room just so he could sit down with me. I loved it because I wanted to pick his brain. We would just sit there and talk about movies and scripts. One of the last things he told me, which was when I went to an NXT show just to see him, was that he wanted me out of the wrestling industry because he wanted me to go on to do acting and be in movies. He wanted me to go after my passions. He said I was doing incredible in Lucha, but I could be doing even more. That was my extra motivation. I was with him for several years going back and forth, and doing promo classes with him. He taught me a lot.”

You can check out more in the link above! Make sure to catch another new episode of Lucha this Wednesday at 8!

Photo credit: El Rey Network and Rolling Stone

Kate witnessed the Litasault and has been hooked on wrestling ever since. She covers lucha libre and the independent circuit. She holds a B.A. from University of Maine at Machias in English, Art, and Communications, and assists at an indie publishing house in Maine.