Netflix’s Gritty 6-Part Crime Franchise Is Officially Dead, Confirms Creator

Netflix’s gritty crime thriller Narcos has told its story.

Created by Chris Brancato, Carlo Bernard, and Doug Miro, with a total of three seasons and 30 episodes, Narcos debuted in August 2015. It largely focused on the infamous drug lord Pablo Escobar, leader of the Medellín Cartel, and how he became a billionaire because of his drug empire. The third season picks up after Escobar’s fall, spotlighting the rise of the Cali Cartel.

Narcos had a relatively short run, concluding in September 2017 and giving way to the Narcos: Mexico spinoff. That ran for another three seasons. The breakout streaming hit also gave Brancato, a veteran television writer-producer whose credits include The X-Files and Hannibal, the platform to help create other crime sagas such as Godfather of Harlem and Hotel Cocaine.

But as Brancato turns his attention to his next drama series, The Westies, which premieres July 12 on MGM+, he shares with Deadline that the Narcos story is “told, as far as I’m concerned.” Michael Panes, who co-created The Westies and has a long working history with Brancato, was even more direct in his reply. Their quotes are included below:

Brancato: “One could argue every single crime show [of mine] since Narcos is another iteration of Narcos. For sure, we have a few things cooking that are in the crime genre that will give Narcos a run for its money. I specifically attended to the Pablo Escobar portion of Narcos, and that story is told, as far as I’m concerned.”

Panes: “After we populate Mars, maybe there will be a Narcos: Mars. Stay tuned for season 2 [of The Westies]. It gets even crazier.”

With a notable Narcos cast that included Wagner Moura, Boyd Holbrook, Pedro Pascal, Damián Alcázar, Joanna Christie, Maurice Compte, Alberto Ammann, André Mattos, Roberto Urbina, Diego Cataño, Jorge A. Jimenez, Paulina Gaitán, and Paulina García, among several others, the three-season true-crime series has a legacy that continues to this day.

Narcos experienced a significant jump in acclaim, rising to 97% on Rotten Tomatoes for its final season. There’s an argument to be made that the show benefited from Breaking Bad‘s popularity, steering audiences toward a real drug kingpin after saying goodbye to Walter White. But there’s no denying that the spike in crime dramas owes at least a little bit to the success of Narcos.

The Westies is the latest in the long line of crime dramas inspired by true events. It is based on the Irish-American organized gang of the same name, taking place in the early 1980s in New York and zeroing in on the group as they have to face challenges from within and without in order to achieve success.

Consisting of eight episodes and with J.K. Simmons, Tom Brittney, Jessica Frances Dukes, and Titus Welliver leading, The Westies is poised to find success. It has many of the same components, at first glance, that made Narcos so undeniably resonate with audiences.

Release Date

2015 – 2017

Network

Netflix

Directors

Andrés Baiz, Josef Kubota Wladyka, Fernando Coimbra, Gerardo Naranjo, Guillermo Navarro

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