‘Narcos: Mexico’ Renewed For Season 3 By Netflix With New Showrunner; Diego Luna Not Returning

Netflix has ordered a third season of drug-trafficking drama series Narcos: Mexico. When it returns it will be without series lead Diego Luna, who portrayed drug cartel leader Félix Gallardo, and with a new showrunner.

Season 2 ended with Luna’s Gallardo sentenced to prison for his drug trafficking crimes and there had been much speculation he would not return if the series was renewed for a third season. Luna is set to reprise his Cassian Andor character in Disney+’s Star Wars spinoff series Rogue One, which is currently in pre-production.

Series co-creator Carlo Bernard will be taking over day-to-day showrunning duties from Eric Newman who is stepping back after five seasons. Newman will continue to executive produce the series alongside Bernard, Jose Padilha, Sidonie Dumas, Christophe Riandee, Nicolas Atlan, Doug Miro and Andrés Baiz. Wagner Moura, who starred as Pablo Escobar during the first two seasons of Narcos, also will return to the series, directing two episodes in the new season.

Newman is currently under an overall deal with Netflix on both the feature side (Bright, Power Project) and television side (Hemlock Grove, Narcos and Narcos: Mexico). He will segue into overseeing a broadening Netflix slate that includes the previously announced opioid TV drama Painkiller, Escape From Spiderhead starring Chris Hemsworth and Miles Teller and The Upper World starring Daniel Kaluuya.

“I am grateful for my five years at the helm of Narcos and Narcos: Mexico and am immensely proud of what this spectacular team has achieved with these shows,” said Newman. “Carlo Bernard is the first person I ever spoke to about this project, over ten years ago, and I am extremely pleased to leave the steering of Season 3 of Narcos: Mexico in his very capable hands.”

Set in the 90s, when the globalization of the drug business ignites, Season 3 examines the war that breaks out after Felix’s empire splinters. As newly independent cartels struggle to survive political upheaval and escalating violence, a new generation of Mexican kingpins emerge. But in this war, truth is the first casualty – and every arrest, murder and take-down only pushes real victory further away.

Cast members Scoot McNairy, José Maria Yazpik, Alberto Ammann, Alfonso Dosal, Mayra Hermosillo, Matt Letscher, Manuel Masalva, Alejandro Edda and Gorka Lasaosa will all return for the third season.

In addition to Moura, Andrés Baiz, Alejandra Marquez, Luis Ortega, Amat Escalante will direct on Season 3.

Season 2, which premiered in February, is currently streaming on Netflix.

Narcos: Mexico is produced by Gaumont for Netflix.

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