Netflix has released the official first look for season 2 of Narcos: Mexico— actor Scoot McNairy will take on the lead role after the death of Michael Pena’s character and will be pitted up against recurring star Diego Luna. Set to premiere on February 13th, the series’ second round will be released more than a year after the previous season which was the fourth outing of Narcos overall— Narcos: Mexico officially reset the series’ timeline by traveling back to 1980s Mexico during the birth of the Guadalajara cartel and the onset of the Mexican drug war.
“To understand the current level of drug violence in Mexico you have to understand how it all started, and truly grasp America’s integral role in it,” series’ showrunner Eric Newman commented when speaking on the impact of McNairy’s character in Narcos upcoming season. The new chapter will mostly feature a new cast which despite the previous season following Guadalajara’s Félix Gallardo (Luna) as he actively worked against DEA agent, Kiki Camarena (Michael Peña).
Despite the series first season being threaded together by an English speaking narrator, McNairy’s character wasn’t revealed until the series final few moments when he stepped front of the camera to reveal himself as agent Walt Breslin before uttering, “now, it was our turn.” Before then McNairy’s casting had been kept under wraps until the show launched its first season. Now with more details being revealed by Netflix, Breslin has been described as “a hardened DEA agent whose methods aren’t always by the book.”
According to Netflix, season two of Narcos: Mexico will continue to “chronicle the missteps, ill-conceived agendas and corruption on both sides of the border that have led to a dangerous present in the failed war on drugs. It’s the mid-1980s, as Félix Gallardo’s super cartel splinters under its own dark weight and social and political shifts within Mexico prompt its desperate government’s most brazen corruption. Meanwhile, the American effort to exact revenge for Camerana’s execution leads them further away from any hope for justice. The cycle of violence rages on.”
“Narcos has a chance to deliver another five seasons to try to get to today, because there is so much that happens after this season ends,” Luna mentioned in an a previous interview with THR. “This is the beginning of the fall for [political party] PRI, which is the party that was in power in Mexico for 70 years. People are rising and there is this feeling of people doing something they can control. A social awakening. That’s when the PRI starts to fall. So much happens.”
Newcomers who will also be joining the cast for season two include: Mayra Hermosillo as Enedina Arellano Felix, Sosie Bacon as Mimi Webb Miller, Andrés Londoño as Enrique Clavel, Alex Knight as Kenny Moss, Miguel Rodarte as Danilo Garza, Jesse Garcia as Sal Orozco, Matt Biedel as Daryl Petski, Jesus Ochoa as Juan Nepomuceno Guerra, Flavio Medina as Juan Garcia Abrego, Alberto Zeni as Amat Palacios, Jero Medina as Ossie Mejia, Jose Julian as Javier Arellano Felix, Noé Hernandez as Rafael Aguilar and Nat Faxon as Ted Kaye.