Pablo Escobar TV series to be done by Netflix

Netflix is about to become a force to be reckoned with! According to Deadline.com, the US home-movie distribution business is about to develop an original 13 episode series called ‘Narcos‘, about the life and times of Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar.

Brazilian-born Jose Padilha (Elite Squad) will be directing the series based on his own idea of Escobar to debut in 2014 on Netflix which has 2.7 million subscribers.

The Escobar series comes after Spanish language broadcaster Telemundo hit it big with the telenovela version produced by the Colombian television network Caracol. It was the second highest rated novela in the history of Telemundo. That news only serves as a testament to the power of Escobar as subject matter.

But can Netflix find an English language audience, especially when Escobar only spoke Spanish and his whole life story is a Latin American one. The people over at HBO toyed with the idea with ‘Medellin‘, a faux movie that served as a series of episodes in its wildly popular show ‘Entourage‘. It was weird to hear the character speak in English and that will most likely be its biggest challenge. Who will play him? An unknown rising star or a household name? No details have emerged, but I will have a heart attack if the role goes to a white guy speaking in a fake Colombian accent.

Doug Miro & Carlo Bernard (Sorcerer’s Apprentice) will be writing the script, Gaumont International Television will be producing and Jose Padilha, who is making his Hollywood directing debut with Sony/MGM’s upcoming remake of RoboCop, will direct.