Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna, lifelong friends who have previously worked together on Y Tu Mamá También and Rudo y Cursi, are reuniting on screen after more than a decade for their new limited series La Máquina.

The duo first conceived the project in 2010, with García Bernal playing an aging boxer (nicknamed “La Máquina,” which means “The Machine”) and Luna as his eccentric manager securing one last shot at a title. They knew from the beginning who would play which part, as García Bernal teased Luna was never going to play the athlete: “Come on, look at him!”

Of working together again now at this stage in their careers, García Bernal told The Hollywood Reporter at the show’s L.A. premiere on Thursday, “It just gets better and better — it gets more complex, more beautiful, more engaging, more warm and intelligent and hopefully better,” adding, “We’re very good at working together,...