The highly anticipated Filipino series, The Loyalty Game, has finally made its way to streaming service Prime Video. The psychological drama, produced by ABS-CBN Studios through Star Creatives, stars real-life celebrity couple Jericho Rosales and Janine Gutierrez in the lead roles.
The series marks their first time working together as leads, having met during the filming of ABS-CBN Studios' Lavender Fields in 2024. Inspired by the viral "loyalty test" social media trend, The Loyalty Game weaves together themes of romance, suspense, betrayal, and desire. In the show, Ana (played by Ms. Gutierrez) resorts to hiring a loyalty tester to uncover the truth about her enigmatic husband, Ben (played by Mr. Rosales).
Ms. Gutierrez revealed that the series allowed them to explore being an entirely different couple, thanks to director Mae Cruz-Alviar's crafting of the characters. "Pinipilit ko makuha at mahanap itong si Ana bilang tao (I really tried to understand and discover who Ana is as a person)," she said during the series launch on June 29 in Quezon City.
The series follows Ana's descent into paranoid depths as she resorts to hiring a loyalty tester, someone who is paid to attempt to lure potentially unfaithful partners to cheat. Ms. Gutierrez and other cast members looked up Facebook groups and posts about loyalty testing to get a glimpse of the community.
Mr. Rosales explained that the key to differentiating themselves from their characters was to find things that couples do that they don't. "We created a world that's just ours by carving their relationship," he said. The Loyalty Game is set in the fictional town of Vallente, where Ben is an attorney for a sugar plantation with secrets to hide, and Ana is an increasingly mentally unstable wedding dress designer.
Throughout the series, the calculated loyalty testing arrangement spirals into a dangerous psychological game of secrets and manipulation. The cast includes Carmina Villaroel, Charlie Dizon, Yen Santos, Elisse Joson, Maika Rivera, Yassi Pressman, Kira Balinger, Alyanna Angeles, Robbie Jaworski, Carlitos Siguion-Reyna, and Karina Bautista.
Director Mae Cruz-Alviar explained that the show will depict realities in the Philippines that push people to go into loyalty testing to earn extra income. "They're a true phenomenon," she said. "The writers and creative team of Star Creatives built the concept around these loyalty testers found in social media."
The series' barkada of four loyalty testers are portrayed as regular people who draw the line by only testing their targets and never escalating into actual affairs. "What you see on the surface is a person hustling and beneath that is a person struggling," Director Cruz-Alviar said. Viewers can expect "the devastating consequences of suspicion and the dangerous lengths people will go to uncover the truth."
The Loyalty Game is now streaming on Prime Video, one of several collaborations between ABS-CBN and Prime Video aimed at bringing Filipino entertainment to more viewers worldwide.
