Netflix has been having a hit-or-miss year with its originals, with runaway successes like Marvel’s Daredevil and lackluster bows like Bloodline and Sense8, but Narcos definitely has all the trappings of another hit for the streaming giant.
The first trailer for the 10-episode series paints it as a fast-paced, well-researched exploration of the rise of Colombian drug kingpin Pablo Escobar as his Medellin cartel ruled the country with an iron fist in the late 1980s. Narcos simultaneously looks inside Escobar’s empire and follows the law enforcement officials tasked with bringing him down.
Wagner Moura plays Escobar, while Boyd Holbrook and Pedro Pascal take the other two lead roles as DEA agents Steve Murphy and Javier Pena. Jose Padilha (RoboCop, Elite Squad) directed all 10 installments of the series, which will land on Netflix August 28.
Here’s the official synopsis for Narcos, below:
Narcos chronicles the gripping real-life stories of the infamous drug kingpins of the late 1980s and the corroborative efforts of law enforcement to meet them head on in brutal, bloody conflict. Its gritty storytelling details the many, often-conflicting forces – legal, political, police, military and civilian – that clash in the effort to control cocaine, one of the world’s most valuable commodities.
The series re-partners creator and executive producer José Padilha (Elite Squad, RoboCop) with acclaimed Brazilian actor Wagner Moura (Elite Squad, Elysium) as a captivating Pablo Escobar alongside Boyd Holbrook (Gone Girl) and Pedro Pascal (Game of Thrones) as real-life DEA agents Steve Murphy and Javier Peña. The series also features powerful performances by Colombia’s Juan Pablo Raba (El corazón del océano), British theater star Joanna Christie (Once), Mexican sensation Stephanie Sigman (also seen later this year in the next Bond installment, Spectre), Colombian actor Manolo Cardona (Covert Affairs), Brazil’s renowned André Mattos (Elite Squad), beloved Puerto Rican actor Luis Guzman (Boogie Nights) and the stunning Ana de la Reguera (Eastbound & Down, Nacho Libre) from Mexico.
