Pablo Escobar's Brother Asked Netflix to Review 'Narcos' Season 2 Before Release Date
Season 2 (and presumably the last) of Narcos will begin streaming in the early days of September, following where the first season left off and telling the story of how Colombian drug kingpin Pablo Escobar was finally brought down. Ahead of the Netflix release date, the show has gotten a special request from a strange place: Escobar's brother Roberto, who wants to see the new season before anyone else.
According to Business Insider, Escobar issued a press release where he informed the world that he had written to Netflix, asking that the streaming site and production company send him a copy of the new season of the show ahead of its official release, to review it.
"I am submitting a formal, friendly request to review this material solely on an informational basis," Escobar wrote. "It is depicting me, my life, my family, and my brother. I think nobody else in the world is alive to determine the validity of the materials, but me."
Although he hasn't been depicted in the somewhat-dramatized Netflix series, the surviving member of the Escobar clan, nicknamed El Osito (The Little Bear), was heavily involved in the Medellin cartel. In fact, Roberto Escobar was his infamous brother's accountant, and served prison under a conviction of drug trafficking and smuggling.
Variety reports that, last year, the convicted accountant registered successor-in-interest rights to his brother and the rest of his family, through Escobar Inc. At that time, the CEO of this company, Olof K. Gustafsson, said they had attempted to contact Netflix regarding Pablo's portrayal in Narcos, but they never heard from them.
It's unclear at this point whether Netflix will respond to Escobar's request to review the new material this time around.
The first season of Narcos found critical acclaim in the U.S. last year, even gathering Golden Globe nominations as Best Dramatic Series and a Best Actor in a Television Drama Series for actor Wagner Moura, who played Escobar. However, in South America, things were different: Colombian audiences pinpointed the inaccuracy of the country's recent (and painful) history, as well as the inability of many of the actors to master the proper accents, as the majority of the cast is supposed to be Colombian and yet the actors come from multiple countries in Latin America, where accents vary.
Making matters worse, the very star of the show, Moura, isn't even a native Spanish speaker, and as much as he looks as the real-life Pablo Escobar, he has a Brazilian accent when speaking the language, instead of the kingpin's distinctive paisa one.
Narcos Season 2 will begin streaming on Sept. 2.