Cristela Alonzo Talks Reviving Legends of the Hidden Temple

Tonight sees the long-awaited return of Legends of the Hidden Temple. The series may have only run for a short time in its first run on Nickelodeon (from 1993 until 1995), but it became iconic with millennials who grew up watching it rerun in syndication for years, first on Nickelodeon and later on its sibling network, Nick Games and Sports For Kids (Nick GAS). The series spawned a movie, based on its in-game mythology, in 2017, and now it's back as a new series on The CW, hosted by Cars 3 star and stand-up comedian Cristela Alonzo.

In spite of her Pixar bona fides and the show's history, though, there's one major tweak to the formula: contestants in the modern Legends of the Hidden Temple will be adults, rather than the kids who competed on the original series. It ups the nostalgia factor for the contestants -- something that brings them about even with Alonzo.

"I grew up watching the show," Alonzo told ComicBook. "During that time of Nickelodeon, it really was like the golden age of Nickelodeon, where it felt like the programming really was made for us, you know what I mean? For the people watching. We had our own shows. Like, Legends of the Hidden Temple was our own game show, just like Double Dare. So it's this weird thing, where I watched it, I loved it, and when it came back and I got asked about hosting it. It kind of took me a second to understand that it was the show, because you're thinking, 'Well it's been so long, it's got the same name, but is it the same? It can't be the same thing.' And then I'm like, 'Oh my God, it's the same show,' and immediately I was like, 'Yes, sign me up.' It's kind of like somebody asking me, 'Do you want to go to your own birthday party?' Yeah, I kind of do actually, let's go."

The series is remarkably similar to the original, with similar stunts (albeit perhaps scaled up for the adult contestants), a similar temple (with maybe some extra detail so it looks less cheap in HD), and of course, the giant stone-faced Olmec, the statue voiced by Dee Bradley Baker, who provides the legends that each episode revolve around.

"Once we started shooting it, a lot of it did come back," Alonzo said. "Not only that, by coming back, I was getting excited about things myself. I found myself cheering teams on. As the host, I cheer people on, just like I did when I was a kid watching the show. Dee Bradley Baker's back as Olmec, and the first time he said my name, 'Cristela,' I lost it. Because what are the chances of Olmec ever saying your name? Even if you know Dee, as Olmec you're like, 'Oh, that's Cristela, that's my name!'"

It's the same for the contestants who, by and large, are just old enough to have seen the show in syndication, and have fond memories of the original Legends of the Hidden Temple. 

"It was kind of insane. I realized, every episode is like they're competing for $25,000, but really, you kind of feel like they're not. You kind of feel like they're there for bragging rights," Alonzo said. "Just to say that they're a Blue Barracuda, a Silver Snake, you know what I mean? It really is this thing where you find out, everybody there grew up with the show, and everybody just couldn't believe they were on it. They had these moments of freaking out when they first see Olmec, when they see the moat, the Steps of Knowledge. You could see them, they get happy with it. To them, all of it is just like, 'Wait a minute. You mean I'm a Purple Parrot? For real?' I think that makes it even more fun. I always make sure that, with the contestants, I always tell them, 'Part of the fun is the fact that you get to be here, and try to run this course. How awesome is it? Who gets to do that?'" 

Legends of the Hidden Temple airs Sunday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW, beginning tonight.