Vida Stars Say Season 2 Is a 'Beautiful' Look at Emma and Lyn's Relationship

Vida, Starz's sexiest series (which is saying a lot), returns for its anticipated second season this month. The first season, which consisted of six half-hour episodes, left off with grieving sisters Emma (Mishel Prada) and Lyn (Melissa Barrera) deciding to stay in Los Angeles to take over the bar owned by their late mother, Vida. Picking up 10 days after the Season 1 finale, the 10-episode second season isn't going to shy away from what a monumental undertaking the sisters signed up for -- and the opposite ways the duo approach the tasks ahead.

"Emma will attack it from the financial. She arrives with [the mission of] 'I have to make money,' and Lyn is like 'it has to matter,' " creator Tanya Saracho told TV Guide earlier this year. "So they both have their missions in that regard. And in a way, it's the right mission for them, for the bar."

But instead of their opposing focuses tearing Emma and Lyn apart, this season will actually find the sisters growing closer together. "What's beautiful about the second season," Melissa Barrera said, "is you get to see them together a lot. ... They're like the yin and yang. They need each other to balance each other out and it's really amazing. And they have fun. You see how they're trying to get to know each other, because they don't really, and trying to build their relationship in the workplace and at home and how hard it is, but how they're both trying really hard to make it work. And it's a beautiful thing."

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Prior to deciding to go into business together, Emma didn't really know her sister and saw her mainly as a rather shallow, frivolous person. And while the first season focused largely on Emma's trajectory, tracing how her mother's homophobia when Emma was growing up led to her becoming a closely guarded person who put up a wall between herself and anything tied to her past, this season will put a greater emphasis on Lyn's personal journey.

After breaking things off with Johnny (Carlos Miranda) in the Season 1 finale, Lyn will do her best to shift her focus away from sex and completely onto the bar at the beginning of the season. In doing so, Lyn will discover aspects of herself even she had previously been unaware of. "I think we all have strengths and weakness and what I love about Lyn's trajectory this season is she starts to really discover her strengths," Mishel Prada said.

"I think in Season 1 you got to see a little bit of Emma's relationship with her mom and what that was like for her and why she's that way. And I think in Season 2 there's a little bit of insight into why Lyn is the way that she is and how her mother was with her," Barrera added. "And also the way that people treat her in general and her defense mechanisms that she's built to survive and to just continue to be the nonchalant, carefree party girl that she is. But she's definitely trying to be useful in Season 2. She's really trying hard to be of service to her sister and make her proud and to make her see that she's not useless."

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Helping the sisters out will also be the new character Nico (Roberta Colindrez), a bartender Emma hires who quickly proves to be a priceless asset as they prepare to rebrand the bar. But while Nico quickly finds their place in the dynamic, even acting as a liaison between the two sisters when things become strained, the one person who still is rather unsure of where she stands is Eddy (Ser Anzoategui), Vida's widow who will still be recovering after being badly beaten toward the end of the first season. "Eddy starts Season 2 broken and how both of [the sisters] deal with it and try to understand how that ... gets a little messy, as of course it will, which is interesting as well," said Prada.

"It's a beautiful second season," Barrera declared. "We're so excited for everyone to see it. We're so proud of it. I think it's a growth from Season 1 in every aspect. Every character, the story, and just the way that it's being told. We've matured as actors and as people and I think you're going to be able to see it, and I hope you like it."

Vida's entire season will be available to stream Thursday, May 23 on the Starz app and Starz On-Demand. Starz will also air episodes weekly starting Sunday, May 26 at 9/8c.