By Stacy Lambe
Bad Bunny is set to make his acting debut in the upcoming season of Narcos: Mexico. The 26-year-old rapper will play Arturo “Kitty” Paez, a member of Ramon Arellano Felix’s gang of rich, well-connected kids from upper society who fell in with the cartel called “Narco Juniors” in Netflix’s ongoing true-crime series focused on the illegal drug trade in Mexico.
The announcement comes months after the Bad Bunny teased in his Rolling Stone cover interview that “he began shooting scenes as a supporting actor” in the early spring before the coronavirus outbreak shut down film and TV production all across the world. The rapper, who released his second album YHLQMDLG in February, also teased his acting ambitions in an interview with ET. “Yeah, I’d like to act. Hollywood, I’m here!” he announced in March.
He’s the second rapper after Quavo to have a role in Mexico.
In addition to the rapper, Luis Gerardo Méndez joins as Juarez cop Victor Tapia, who gets drawn into the fold when he begins investigating a series of brutal killings. The actor, who previously starred on one of the streaming platform’s earliest Spanish-language series, Club de Cuervos, is one of three new series regulars alongside Alberto Guerra as drug trafficker Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada and Luisa Rubino as journalist Andrea Nuñez.
Following his breakout role on MTV’s Awkward and appearances on recent series Good Trouble and Now Apocalypse, Beau Mirchoff will join the cast as Steve Sheridan.
Season 3 of the series co-created and executive produced by Carlo Bernard is set in the 1990s, when drug business began to go global. The new episodes will examine the war that breaks out after the empire Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo (previously played by Diego Luna) begins to splinter. As these newly independent cartels fight for survival, a new generation of kingpins emerge amid the political upheaval and escalating violence.
While Luna is not returning for season 3, many of the expansive ensemble are, including Scoot McNairy as DEA agent Walt Breslin, José Maria Yazpik as Felix’s partner, Amado Carrillo Fuentes, Alberto Ammann as drug trafficker “Pacho,” Matt Letscher as Jaime Kuykendall, Alejandro Edda as “El Chapo” and Gorka Lasaosa as Sinaloa Cartel leader Héctor Luis Palma Salazar as well as Alfonso Dosal, Mayra Hermosillo and Manuel Masalva as drug lords Benjamín, Enedina and Ramón Arellano Félix, respectively.
Other newcomers to the series include Alejandro Furth as Ramon Salgado, Lorenzo Ferro as Alex Hodoyan, José Zúñiga as General Rebollo, Diego Calva as Arturo Beltran Leyva, Kristen Lee Gutoskie as Dani, Yessica Borroto as Marta, Damayanti Quintanar as Hortencia, Manuel Uriza as Carlos Hank Gonzalez and Markin López as Rogelio.
Behind the scenes, Wagner Moura, who starred as Pablo Escobar during the first two seasons of Narcos and reprised his role in Narcos: Mexico season 1, will return to the series as director of two episodes in the new season.
