Pluto TV will make history on October 20th with the launch of their new single-series channels “Narcos” and “Narcos en Español,” according to recent press release. These new channels will reportedly represent the first time Netflix’s Spanish-language biographical crime drama Narcos will be available to watch from beginning to end on a free streaming platform in the United States, as reported by Deadline.
In addition to holding exclusive dominion over a pair of single-series channels, episodes of Narcos will also be instrumental in filling out the schedules for the “Crime Drama” and “Narcos Novelas” channels on Pluto TV, as reported by the official press release. The entirety of the first season will be free to stream throughout the remainder of October, either at scheduled weekday air times or in a marathon format on the single-series broadcast channels. Pluto TV has allegedly committed to making additional seasons available on the platform with each successive month, culminating in the release of the second season of the companion series Narcos: Mexico in February 2021, Deadline reports.
Narcos will always have a home at Netflix, but that has never prevented it from being distributed by other means. It was at the center of another historic licensing agreement when it became the very first Netflix original series to be broadcast by an American television network, according to The Wrap. The Spanish-language television channel Univision secured the opportunity to air the first season of Narcos and additionally brought the first season of Netflix’s dynastic dramedy Club de Cuervos to its subsidiary UniMás back in spring of 2016, The Wrap reports.
Although the show tells a Spanish-language story of the Latin American drug trade, the show’s look and central performance were actually in the hands of native Brazilians. The first two episodes were directed by award-winning Brazilian filmmaker José Padilha (Elite Squad, 7 Days in Entebbe), and the lead role of notorious cartel Pablo Escobar was portrayed by Wagner Moura (Elysium, Father’s Chair). Prior to their work on Narcos, Moura had been at the forefront of Padilha’s Elite Squad duology playing the military policeman Roberto Nascimento.
The role had required Moura to train at a real police boot camp, where Padilha saw “the tender and thoughtful Moura… transform himself,” according to Rolling Stone. Padilha discussed the connection between Nascimento and Escobar in his 2015 interview with The City Paper: “Everybody loves Capitão Nascimento. He’s torturing people. So there is a fascination with… the small guy that becomes big. All this is part of the mythology of Pablo Escobar.”
Narcos and Narcos: Mexico are available to stream via Netflix. Pluto TV is accessible through an online web browser, or as free downloadable mobile app in most major app stores.