Season 2 of ‘Narcos’ ended with much finality, but with at least two more seasons to go, we have many questions and predictions about its future.
If you haven’t finished season 2 of Narcos, look away! Beware of spoilers below!
What happened?
To the disappointment of many, Narcos season 2 ended with the death of Pablo Escobar. For a few days after season 2’s release, it was thought that the series was over. After all, Narcos was about the rise and fall of Pablo Escobar, right? Think again. Netflix renewed Narcos for two more seasons. Despite losing its villainous star, Wagner Moura, the show will go on!
Season 2 ended with Agent Javier Peña (Pedro Pascal) presumably being asked to help take down the Cali Cartel. Said executive producer Eric Newman to EW, “This show has always been about cocaine. We purposely did not call the show Pablo Escobar or Medellin.”
And with the info drop in the season 2 finale that cocaine is on the rise, it only makes sense that there’s more story to tell post-Escobar.
Who will be the new Escobar?
The teaser video for the next season depicts Escobar transforming into Gilberto (of the Cali cartel), so he’ll be the new kingpin, right? Not necessarily. Newman revealed to THR that season 3 will not only feature Gilberto, but also his brother Miguel, Pacho, and Chepe, “a sort of fascinating and colorful guy.”
While no one will compare to Escobar as a villain (and Wagner Moura’s portrayal), the fact that the Cali cartel is not a single entity will provide something different from Narcos‘ first two seasons. “Pablo was protected by the people who loved him and Cali was protected by a political and economic system that they had rather ingeniously built,” Newman continued. “It’s a different kind of villain.”
The events of season 2 were a tease for what’s to come in season 3. Peña joined forces with the enemy in an effort to take down Escobar, and these blurred lines of villainy is a theme that will continue: “[Cali] had a corruptive influence that went way beyond the outlaw. They bought the presidency of Colombia in 1994. They were insiders,” Newman explained.
Essentially, the people who helped the DEA take down season 1 and 2’s villain will themselves become the villains in seasons 3 and 4.
It’s also possible we could see El Chapo aka Joaquín Guzmán, a Mexican drug lord whose cartel transported drugs from Colombia to Mexico, then on to the United States. In Narcos‘ current timeline, Guzmán has been drug trafficking for over 20 years. If we were to see him, he would be well into his business, and depending on how quickly seasons 3 and 4 move, his story may take prominence early on.
What of Tata and the kids?
In real life, Escobar’s wife Victoria and their two kids left Colombia for Argentina, and tried to live anonymously. She and her son were arrested in 2000, however, for money laundering from Colombian drug lords. After Paulina Gaitan’s excellent performance, it’s possible the show will want to continue to feature Tata prominently, and a way to do that might be by playing up her involvement in subsequent cartels.
Will we see Murphy again?
It’s almost a guarantee Peña will be back for season 3, despite not being involved in the real history, but what of Murphy? As Newman explained it, they have to consider if Murphy’s story is over, and indeed it felt like it.
Then again, will the show want to continue without an American narrator to move the story along? Of course, it’s more than possible Peña could take that over, but does the audience want to see Peña work without his partner? The separation between them in season 2 could have been the setup for Peña working alone (as in, without Murphy), or maybe it was just a break, a way to create tension before getting back together later.
What we know for certain
We know we’re getting new characters, we know Cali’s rise and fall is going to be the main story, and we know we’re getting a season 3 and 4. Oh yeah, we also know we’re super excited about it.