The narcos crime drama inspired by a notorious drug lord and starring Modern Family’s Sofia Vergara has landed on Netflix.
Netflix's Griselda is inspired by the life of the infamous Griselda Blanco, who created one of the most profitable drug cartels in history.
Vergara stars in the titular role in the six-part limited series alongside Alberto Guerra, Martín Rodríguez, Juliana Aidén Martinez and Christian Tappan. You can check out a trailer here:
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The series centres on Blanco’s life after fleeing from Medellín to Miami with her three young sons and a kilo of cocaine before going on to become the ruthless boss of a drug empire.
The six-part series is created by Narcos’ showrunner Eric Newman, who has previously said: “From the earliest days of my research for what became Narcos, [Griselda] leapt out at me as a fascinating character.
“I have always endeavoured to humanise complicated people, many of whom have been considered evil, and Griselda offered both the greatest challenge and opportunity.”
He added: “There has never been a woman who came close to achieving the power, wealth, and respect that Griselda did. And no trafficker, woman or man, ever elicited the same level of fear.
“Griselda is a rise-and-fall story like none we have ever seen before.
"It’s thrilling, emotional, funny, scary, and tragic. Griselda is an antihero of the highest order and a series of contradictions at odds with herself.”
Vergara, who is best known for her role of Gloria in Modern Family, underwent a dramatic transformation to play the drug lord - with Newman revealing she wore five different wigs and would spend ‘hours’ sat in the makeup chair every day before filming.
To complete her overhaul, Vergara wore a prosthetic nose and a set of fake teeth that were slightly bucked and yellowed out as Blanco is seen puffing on a cigarette throughout the series - something Vergara has said she had to learn how to do for the role.
Speaking on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon she praised director Andrés Baiz for helping teach her how to play the part.
She shared: “It was amazing because I was 51 years old and I didn’t even know how to, you know, how to light a cigarette.”
Heaping praise on Vergara, Newman said: “She was perfect for the role not only because she, like Griselda, is a single mother who came to America from Colombia with nothing and built an empire, but because it was unexpected of her to do.
"Sofia has been thought of one way, a beautiful and brilliant comedic actress, and she is so much more than that.”
If you fancy checking out for yourself, Griselda is available to stream on Netflix now.
Topics: Drugs, Netflix, TV and Film, Narcos
Claire Reid