Netflix’s Narcos made an impressive creative leap from season one to season two, both slowing things down a bit by focusing on just the hunt for Pablo Escobar instead of his multi-decade rise, and speeding them up by showing the frantic hunt for the world’s most-wanted criminal. The issue, though, is where it would go for the third season. I’m not exactly sure what the rules are regarding spoilers and things that happened in real life over 20 years ago, but Pablo Escobar didn’t make it out of season two alive. The show was in a spot where it either needed to change or call it quits.
Well, based on both the content of this teaser for season three and the fact that it exists it all, it’s pretty clear they opted for the former. Adios, Pablo Escobar. Hola, Cali cartel. The one constant in all of this is that DEA agent Javier Peña (Pedro Pascal) will still be hunting billionaire drug bosses as we move into the mid-1990s. I mean, and again, I apologize for the spoiler, but the cocaine industry did not end with Pablo Escobar’s death.
Season 3 debuts on September 1, with the tagline “Rise of a New Empire” and Kerry Bishe from Halt and Catch Fire playing the wife of a Colombian money launderer. Let’s go ahead and file all of this under cautious optimism, even if it does mean we’re not getting any more promotional pictures of a sad Pablo Escobar sitting on a bench swing. I’ll miss those the most.
