‘Ugly Betty’ Alum Ana Ortiz Weighs in on Possible Reboot

Ugly Betty ended nearly 15 years ago, but star Ana Ortiz is giving her thoughts on a possible reboot. Ortiz starred on the canceled ABC dramedy as Hilda Suarez for all four seasons and was the older sister of America Ferrera’s titular Betty Suarez. With many shows making a comeback these days in the form of a reboot or revival, Ortiz shared what would get her to do an Ugly Betty reboot while appearing on a recent episode of the Behind the Velvet Rope podcast.

“I’m gonna live it he world of yes, because we all wanna do it so badly,” Ortiz said via Entertainment Weekly. “I honestly think the only way to do it is at least six episodes. I don’t think, because it’s a large cast with so many different moving parts, you couldn’t put it into a movie. It couldn’t just be a two-hour thing because every character is so epic, right?” She also said it would “have to be” a proper series if it happens, bringing back as many cast members as possible.

Along with Ferrera and Ortiz, Ugly Betty’s ensemble cast also included Eric Mabius, Alan Dale, Tony Plana, Ashley Jensen, Becki Newton, Mark Indelicato, Vanessa Williams, Michael Urie, and Judith Light, among others. The show was based on the Colombian telenovela Yo soy Betty, la fea from Fernando Gaitán. Ortiz pointed out that just because she has some reservations, it doesn’t necessarily mean that a reboot or revival won’t be happening, since it really just depends.

“I can only say that we are so all of us, from soup to nuts, we all want to do it,” Ortiz explained. “I think it’s just a question now of getting the rights because it was owned by the Colombian production company, blah, blah, blah. So, we’re working on it.”

Ortiz is not the only Ugly Better star to speak about a potential reboot or revival. In 2023, Urie, who played Marc St. James on all four seasons, expressed his interest in doing a reboot of the Ferrea-led series. “I think it’s time!” he said. Whether or not it will actually ever happen one day is unknown, but if everyone’s on board, it’s possible it could even happen sooner rather than later. All four seasons of Ugly Betty are streaming on Netflix in the meantime, so fans can continue to hope and wait that that a reboot or revival is on the way in the future.