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Netflix and Chapo?
On Tuesday, Univision announced they would be teaming up with Netflix in a deal that would include the production of a series based on infamous drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman. The series would first premiere in the U.S. on the channel UniMás in 2017, and would subsequently be available to Netflix subscribers, reports The Hollywood Reporter.
The announcement was made at Univision's presentation to advertisers in New York. The deal would also bring the first seasons of the Netflix series Narcos and Club de Cuervos to Univision channels ahead of both of their second season premieres (on Netflix).
"Netflix knows that Hispanics are their growth consumers," said Univision CEO Jessica Rodriguez, according to the L.A. Times.
"El Chapo" made headlines over the past year when he broke out of a Mexican maximum-security prison in July and was later recaptured in a firefight. During his time on the lam, he secretly met with Sean Penn and the actress Kate del Castillo.
Guzman reportedly was interested in making a movie or show about his own life, apparently inspired by Netflix's Narcos. LAist has reached out to Netflix to see if Guzman or any of his associated were involved in the production of the future Netflix/Univision series, but we have not yet received a response.
The History Channel announced their own series on El Chapo earlier this month unfortunately titled #Cartel (complete with the hashtag). Ironically, #Cartel is being helmed by the former showrunner of Narcos.
