‘Narcos’ (2015)

From Daredevil to Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Netflix certainly has a fair amount of fan favorite series comprising its current line-up of original programs. So, in the tradition of launching shows with attention-grabbing trailers (as both of the aforementioned titles had), the SVOD outlet has just released the first promo for its newest series, Narcos.

Set in Miami during the 1980s, Narcos will follow the illegal drug-trade and subsequent “war on drugs” of the time – with specific focus being put on Pablo Escobar (Wagner Moura) and the Medellín Cartel. Created by Chris Brancato, Eric Newman and Carlo Bernard, the show also stars Pedro Pascal (Game of Thrones), Boyd Holbrook (Hatfields & McCoys), and Joanna Christie (Doctors), among others.

There’s been a lot of interest towards turning the Miami drug war of the 1970s and ’80s into a TV series, in recent years. For a long time, there was a project executive produced by Michael Bay and Jerry Bruckheimer set up at HBO meant to be a dramatic series adaptation of the hit documentary, Cocaine Cowboys. Ultimately, the project was scrapped, and Bay and Bruckheimer moved over to TNT with a new writer and “Untitled Cocaine Project” as, by that point, the producing duo had lost the rights to the documentary.

A Cocaine Cowboys series is still in the middle of its development, but we aren’t going to have to wait long to see just what kind of potential the time period can have as a long running television series. Netflix appears to have thrown a lot of flair behind Narcos, and just going off the look of this trailer, it appears that flair most certainly paid off. From what we’re seeing here, Narcos seems to have a lot of depth, a lot of action and a whole lot of drugs. It’s not Miami Vice, but rather something much more sinister, it seems.

While a true cop show is actually something Netflix is currently lacking in its existing line-up, Narcos does feel like the closest the company will ever come to one. Daredevil is the closest thing to a crime procedural show produced by the streaming network to date (mostly thanks to the folks at Marvel Television), but Narcos definitely feels like it’s going to be walking that same line… in its own way. It probably won’t be a “case of the week” set-up, but it might be something close to that.

Narcos premieres August 28th, 2015 on Netflix.