However, the cast and crew also describe the show as an attempt to remove the veil of heroism covering the man and re-humanize him. It was popular in Latin America, but the telenovela style and format alienated international viewers. As he ages into young adulthood, he initially joins the military, but finds more success as a statesman, and travels to Spain to both further his education and seek the title afforded his name.
In Quito, Manuela begins to behave in order to be let out of the convent, succeeding and witnessing the 2 August uprising; her father feels she sympathizes with the cause too strongly and sends her to live with a maternal uncle, a priest, not knowing that he craves revolution, too.
An extensive cast list was published in July by Peruvian outlet El Comercio. The show was one of Colombia's most expensive to produce ever, [3] with its producers describing it as the "most ambitious series in the history of Colombian television. According to Semana , Caracol did not use deadlines when creating the series, instead letting their teams work to make the show as good as it could be. Additionally, as the landmark series produced for the company's 50th anniversary and the bicentennial of independence, it was reportedly given "unequaled scrutiny".
Ultimately, Juana Uribe was chosen to be showrunner and head writer. As a period drama, the show used costume design to present the period accurately; the hats worn by Manuela have been described as exact to the different locales she inhabits, as well as period.
Shany Nadan also commented that because of the different views on personal appearance at the time, "it did not matter if [she] showed up with rumpled hair" to film, as that is how it would have been in reality. The storytelling intention during the conception of the series was discussed by Abreu in interviews. They designed him in a way to bring him down to a realistic level rather than be the hero taught in history classes, because, according to Abreu, Venezuelan people think "he was a superhero or that he had a space hammer or that a radioactive spider bit him", referring to popular Marvel Comics superheros.
