‘Narcos’ Needs an El Chapo Season

Narcos: Mexico has ended just how it started: full of corruption, violence, and drug kingpins desperate to stay in power. Over the course of Narcos and its spinoff series, we’ve witnessed the rise and fall of Pablo Escobar, the most powerful drug trafficker of all time; the chaos of Colombia’s Cali cartel; Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo’s unification of Mexico’s biggest cartels; and the collapse of that careful plan. But there’s one cartel leader Narcos still hasn’t tackled, even though the man is right there. Narcos needs an El Chapo season, and it needs one ASAP.

Joaquín Guzmán first appeared in Narcos: Mexico‘s first season as portrayed by Alejandro Edda. As soon as the nickname “El Chapo” was given to a lowly member of Gallardo’s operation, it has haunted this universe. Throughout the three seasons of Narcos: Mexico, we’ve seen this man line dance next to a tiger, use a tunnel to smuggle drugs across the border, and backstab his former leader and friend, Palma (Gorka Lasaosa). As a character, he’s been exactly the wild card that makes this show so much fun. But the real joy in seeing El Chapo’s distinctive bowl cut has been in knowing what’s to come.

At the height of his power, the real El Chapo’s wealth has been likened to that of Pablo Escobar’s. He perfected a system for distributing cocaine, methamphetamine, marijuana, and heroin into the United States and Europe. He achieved that through his many, many tunnels, which allowed him to export more drugs into the U.S. than any other trafficker in history. Those tunnels would come into play again later in his life.

El Chapo was first arrested in 1993. But through bribery and plotting, he was able to escape a federal maximum-security prison in 2001. He was arrested again in 204 after an $8.8 million bounty for arrest was put on his head. Yet in 2015, he escaped prison right before his formal sentencing through a series of — you guessed it — more tunnels. El Chapo was eventually captured and sentenced in the U.S. two years later. He’s currently serving out life in prison plus 30 years at ADX Florence, an institution known as the most secure supermax prison in the United States.

And the Sinaloa cartel leader has been captured on TV before. In 2017, Netflix and Univision co-produced El Chapo, a three season saga about his rise and fall. But El Chapo lacked the sharp style and empathetic writing of Narcos. It rarely discussed how this man’s reign of power came to permanently change both Mexico and America, an overarching framing for which Narcos is known. Instead, it presented this stranger-than-fiction saga as just another crime drama. That approach certainly has its merits; even the most low-budget version of this story is wild enough to keep audiences entertained. But there’s a better option sitting right in front of all of us.

We know that Narcos: Mexico is over, but there’s still a chance this universe could have another spinoff. It’s happened before. Netflix has the franchise, writers, producers, and creators to make this story great. It has the guy. Alejandro Edda makes for a disarmingly unhinged El Chapo, a man who is as likely to break out into a dance as he is to sell out his best friend. And, most importantly to this complicated saga about Mexican corruption and American drug abuse, it has spent six seasons framing this particular story. Now is the time for this to happen. Netflix, we’re begging you, don’t cut your losses before giving your next Pablo Escobar free rein. Give us an El Chapo season.

Watch Narcos: Mexico on Netflix