Narcosreturned this weekend with a ( lethal ) bang . After blaze through Colombian druglord Pablo Escobar ’s decade of dominance in Season 1 , Netflix promised to kill off the cocain kingpin by the terminal of a 2nd 10 - episode run . The show ’s breathless Season 2 finale did not let down .
That ’s not a pillager ; Netflix spent all summerteasing the villain ’s death(plus , you know , it happened in real life ) . But the marketing move placed an strange amount of force per unit area on the show to get the scene right – especially yield thecontroversysurrounding Escobar ’s literal death . Here ’s howNarcosput it all together , based on interviews with the producers and form , as well as leak behind - the - vista pic . Escobar ’s kinsperson might disaccord with the depiction , but the DEA thinks it ’s passably damn close .
The real and fictional backstory
Pablo Escobar drop dead on a rooftop in Medellin , Colombia , on December 2nd , 1993 . This came after a20 - arcminute shootoutinvolving himself , his bodyguard Alvaro de Jesus Agudelo ( " El Límon " ) , and several phallus of the elite law job force play acknowledge as the " Search Bloc . " Escobar was on the run for over a year when the operation went down , following his escape from La Catedral , the gilded " prison " he constructed himself , in June of 1992 . The police cop him by tracinga callhe made to his teen Logos , Juan Pablo .
Narcoshad been building to this blinking demise since the Season 1 finale , which arrange up Escobar ’s gaolbreak from La Catedral . Although Escobar ’s climb to the top of Colombia ’s cocain conglomerate could have easily replete four or five season , the Netflix show confined it to a single stretch of episode . Then the creators outright promised an Escobar demise in the Modern season , rick Season 2 into a turbulent free grace note .
The first hints came courtesy of the Season 2 premiereannouncement , which flashed Pablo ’s death date in bold numbers . Then , during the Television Critics Association summer press tour , the cast heterosexual - up spoiled it . Wagner Moura , who plays Escobar , confirmedthat his type would die in Season 2 . " This is unquestionably the last season for me , " he announce . Almost to underline the point , a fresh trailer blow the hashtag # WhoKilledPabloEscobardropped a calendar month later .
Wagner Moura as Pablo Escobar in Narcos|Netflix
Despite the upfront marketing strategy , the shape and showrunners persist plastered - lipped about how the death would go down , leaning into the the cloudy details of Escobar ’s fatal gunfight . The public still does n’t knowexactly who shot him , and some of his family member even insist heshot himselfto avoid gaining control . ButNarcosdid the best it could by approach the scene with an almost fanatic care to historical truth .
Producers executed the scene with accuracy
Narcoswriters once again consulted with existent - living DEA agents Steve Murphy and Javier Peña ( played by Boyd Holbrook and Pedro Pascal in the series ) on the expiry scene details . Both piece portion out accounts of the surgical procedure to help construct a timeline of the Escobar hunting . While Peña was not present for the factual gunfight , Murphy was on site , and super upcoming with theNarcosstaff : he even allegedlyrevealedwhich officeholder fired the kill dig .
With firsthand account in helping hand , theNarcosteam set out to secure a emplacement – with one specific one in mind . The showrunners hoped to shoot the scene on the precise Medellin rooftop where Escobar was killed . That turned out to be impossible ; executive producer Eric Newman claims the veridical roof had beenbuilt over , while the tabloid assert the homeowner wouldn’tgive license . But the bunch was allowed to shoot on top of another Medellin building , so it cut its going and replicated the original positioning .
Escobar die wear down an aggressively early-’90s two - tone polo shirt , jeans , and flip - flops , which he promptly lost in the brush . TheNarcoscostume designers put Moura in an identical outfit for the big panorama , though they did n’t force their leading man to execute the cap barefoot . Asleaked photosfrom the fit show , Moura was outfitted with some freaky - looking fake feet , so he would n’t cut up his real ones .
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Then come the scaffolding . The wayNarcosorchestrates the takedown , El Límon was killed by constabulary snipers almost as soon as they reached the roof . Escobar discharge off several rounds before the snipers hit him doubly , which sent him down . The team of police and DEA agent on the ground fence in him , before one especially incense officer shot Escobar point blank in the psyche , shout out , " Long live Colombia ! " The operatives then gathered around his dead body for a prize photo . The series flaunt the actual photograph take in 1993 .
At least some of these details are confirmable . The job military force certainly celebrated ; witnesser reported that the squad fired their guns in the air screaming , " We won ! " immediately after killing Escobar . But in the closing , the show had to make some witting choice in telling this variation of the story . As PascaltoldCBS This Morning , " How he dies , who kill him , is a whodunit . You ’ll get so many different answers in term of who fire the shot . Or shots . We have our rendition … Narcosdoesn’t believe [ he committed suicide ] . The DEA does n’t believe that as well . "
Where doesNarcosgo next?
The big businessman of cocaine may be eliminated , but the show ’s time of year finis also lay out up a worthy successor in the Cali cartel . Cali kingpins Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela and Pacho Herrera became powerful players this past time of year . They wordlessly steal Escobar ’s monopoly on Miami , conspired with his fellow enemies Judy Moncada and the Castaños comrade , and force his widow to hand over the stiff of his empire in exchange for her safe transition out of Colombia . And now thebrand - new Season 3 traileris fairly explicitly point finger’s breadth at Orejuela as Escobar ’s heir .
" From the very rootage , from our early days of talking about this , it was Medellin , into Cali , into Mexico , " NewmantoldIndieWire . " The lot play on . We certainly wait at parallels in the humankind with terrorist act , where we never make out with the generator of terrorism . We deal with ' let ’s cut the header off this monster ' – in the most late vitrine , Osama bin Laden . By the prison term he ’s move , he ’s already out of the biz and there are new guys who are even bad . That ’s really what the show is about . "
Peña could also return for this fresh Cali - focalize chapter in the drug war saga . The last indicate him getting called into a raw DEA mission , and Newmanhas hintedit could involve Herrera and Orejuela . But seeing as time of year 3 is a year off , Narcosstill has plenty of time to figure out its next move . Only one thing is clear : Pablo , and all of his fantastically lame sweater , will not be back for the drive .
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