When director Robert Rodriguez's "From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series" on El Rey Network was picked up for a second season, Wilmer Valderrama, who plays the sinister, blood-sucking vampire-crime lord, Don Carlos Madrigal, had a huge smile on his face -- but this time without the fangs!

Valderrama and the cast, which includes Zane Holtz, Don Johnson, D.J. Cotrona, and Mexican actress Eiza González, who plays vampire temptress Santánico Pandemonium (formerly played by Salma Hayek in the film version), are amped up for the continuation of the original story and vampire folklore, based on directors Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino's original 1996 film (that spiraled into two sequels).

"It's been awesome! Robert Rodriguez has put together an amazing cast," Valderrama told Latin Post.

"My character is a bad, bad man, and I love playing him!" he added.

Where does Valderrama draw his bad-ass inspiration from -- his Venezuelan or Colombian side?

"Who knows, but it's coming out of somewhere!" he joked.

Valderrama's diabolical character has a more prominent role in the TV series than the film, which was originally played by Cheech Marin.

"The character of Carlos was almost inconsequential in the movie, having only a few short lines and less than 10 minutes of screen time, but in the TV adaptation 'From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series,' Carlos becomes one of the most important characters in the entire story," IMDb points out.

"From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series" is filmed in Austin, Texas, which is the home state of Rodriguez, who was born in San Antonio.

"First of all, Austin is an amazing city. It has the humbleness of a small town with the elements of a big city. As a location, it has been awesome," Valderrama said.

In an earlier Reddit AMA, Rodriguez mimicked Valderrama's sentiments.

"The show ('From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series') is awesome," he said. "It takes Quentin's original characters and re-imagines their storylines and trajectory, introduces new characters and will surprise the audience with its twists and turns. I'm really proud of it, it's edgy and cool freaking scary. The whole season takes place from dusk til dawn."

Based on the 1996 movie, "From Dusk Till Dawn," starring George Clooney, Quentin Tarantino, Harvey Keitel, Salma Hayek, Danny Trejo and Juliette Lewis, the plot is about "two criminals and their hostages who unknowingly seek temporary refuge in an establishment populated by vampires, with chaotic results."

It's been quite a run for Mexican-American filmmaker, Rodriguez, who made his directorial debut in 1993 with the Spanish-language film, "El Mariachi." The film was such a hit that Columbia Pictures was so impressed that it bought the rights to the following films, "Desperado" and "Once Upon a Time in Mexico." It also added more star power by featuring Spanish actor Antonio Banderas, thus making it a successful Mexican trilogy.

In 2011, "El Mariachi" was named by the Library of Congress as one of the year's 25 films selected to join the National Film Registry, which also included "Forrest Gump" and "Silence of the Lambs," for being "culturally, historically and aesthetically significant."

Rodriguez is also paving the way for many Latinos in the Entertainment industry. Also known for his films "Spy Kids" and the upcoming "Sin City: A Dame to Kill For," he's the founder/chairman of El Rey network and he just launched a video-making contest to empower Latino filmmakers with PepsiCo's Mountain Dew.

Last month, the small-screen version of the horror film franchise, the first scripted drama from the El Rey Network, dropped on Netflix in Canada, Latin America and select European territories, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Valderrama, who looks up to Rodriguez, aspires to reach his level of success and also inspire fellow Latinos in TV and film.

Born in Miami, Valderrama moved to Venezuela when he was 3 years old. As a young, impressionable 13-year-old, he moved to the U.S. where his family settled in Los Angeles. While it was a tough transition, trying to learn English and fit in, he eventually did and continued on to thrive making TV commercials, then transitioned to TV sitcoms.

After two decades acting, directing and producing, where does Valderrama foresee Latinos in Hollywood?

"I see them just as finally becoming universal images of artistry. I think that's the goal -- is for them (Latinos) to be looked at as performers, and a not as a certain type of flag, or a politically correct purpose, or trying to appeal to some kind of audience," he explained.

"The way that I see the future of the community is a future that is colorblind, that is colorless. That hopefully really what it does is put us on an equal platform -- a universal platform when it comes to reaching to the world with our artistry.

"Look, I have been working for almost 20 years now, I have been doing it for so long. It's been fun. Time has flown by so fast and being able to enjoy that platform is pretty awesome," he added.

Has Valderrama ever faced discrimination on the job?

"Everyone has a version of it, but honestly I never looked at it as an obstacle, I really looked at it as another opinion that doesn't matter."

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