“Narcos” is making some big changes to its cast.
A new teaser for Season 4 revealed Diego Luna (“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”) and Michael Peña (“Cesar Chavez”) would star in the series. The 40-second video, published Tuesday, features a mariachi band playing a new version of the “Narcos” theme song as Luna’s and Peña’s names are revealed on screen.
Luna will be replacing Pedro Pascal (“Game of Thrones”), who portrayed Drug Enforcement Administration agent Javier Peña, in the starring role of the series, Netflix confirmed to Entertainment Weekly. As of now, it is unclear whether Pascal will appear in the new season at all.
The cast shake-up comes as “Narcos” sets its sights on Mexico, with the new season focusing on the Guadalajara cartel in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Showrunner Eric Newman spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about the changes on Tuesday.
“The continuing character on the show was always intended to be cocaine and the futile war against it,” Newman told the outlet. “Our characters are important, and there are a lot of similarities where, as we like to say, there are bad guys and very bad guys, but they are secondary to the cocaine. It’s about the ongoing war against drugs and against cocaine and the inherent, unwinnable nature of that conflict.”
News that production for the show would move to Mexico broke after 37-year-old Carlos Muñoz Portal, a location scout for the show, was found dead not far from Mexico City in September. Newman told The Hollywood Reporter the investigation into Muñoz Portal’s death is still ongoing and likely not connected to the show, but the production increased its security in the wake of it.