Selena Gomez wanted her character Mabel, from Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building,” to be the killer in one of the hit comedy series’ seasons.
“I did pitch that,” Gomez said during an interview at the Variety Studio, sponsored by J.Crew and SharkNinja, at the Toronto International Film Festival. “I don’t think it’s going to work out, but who knows? You never know.”
This year, Gomez landed her first Emmy nomination as a lead actress in a comedy for her role in the show.
Read: You can see all Academy Award predictions in all 23 categories on one page on the Variety Awards Circuit: Oscars
Gomez, along with her “Emilia Pérez” castmates — Karla Sofía Gascón, Zoe Saldaña, Édgar Ramírez and Adriana Paz — were on hand to discuss the Oscar buzz and critical acclaim for the musical directed by Jacques Audiard, which won a combined best actress prize at Cannes.
The “Only Murders in the Building” star has proven her acting prowess and demonstrated her versatility as a comedic performer alongside comedy legends Steve Martin and Martin Short in the mystery romp.
Only three other Latinas have been nominated in the lead actress comedy category at the Emmys: Rita Moreno (who was nominated in 1983 for “9 to 5”), America Ferrera (who won in 2007 for “Ugly Betty” and received another nom in 2008) and Jenna Ortega (last year for “Wednesday”).
Also serving as one of the executive producers for “Only Murders,” she made history this year as the most nominated Latina producer in the category’s history and only the third Latina ever nominated in the outstanding comedy series category, following Salma Hayek for ABC’s “Ugly Betty” in 2007. The other was Cuban producer Marlis Pujol, who was nominated for two consecutive years for Netflix’s “The Kominsky Method” in 2020 and 2021. In addition, only one Latina woman has won as a producer in any of the top series categories in history (Celia D. Costas for “Angels in America” in 2004).
The fourth season of Hulu’s “Only Murders in the Building” is scheduled to run until Oct. 29.
