Season 4 of Narcos is coming and the show is going in a new direction.
When the official plot synopsis for Season 1 of Narcos was announced by Netflix, audiences knew that there was a Medellín-sized elephant in the room.
You don't even need a spoiler alert warning because absolutely everyone knew how the hunt for Pablo Escobar would end as the Search Bloc were closing in on the notorious narco-terrorist.
In fact, while the first two seasons of the hit show introduced us to the rise and rise and rise of Escobar, plenty of people felt that his story could have been stretched out a little bit longer. We wouldn't have complained.
After Murphy and Peña's case against El Patrón was wrapped up in a storm of bullets on the rooftops - the two DEA agents weren't even there when Escobar met his maker - Narcos fans immediately worried about the future of the show.
To be honest, their concerns were legitimate because Wagner Moura's performance as Escobar was absolutely incredible and he was central to the show, but just like the endless stream of money and drugs, the story never stops.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJGkm0UwNRk
Don Pablo was always going to be an incredibly tough act to follow but the creators of Narcos were clever with how they approached Season 3.
By focusing their attention on the Cali cartel and their nefarious leaders - Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela, Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela, Chepe Santacruz Londoño, and the chilling Pacho Herrera - the show expertly hedged its villainous bets.
Season 4 of Narcos will now focus on the burgeoning cartels in Mexico as the show begins to explore the origins of the modern drug war by going back to its roots, beginning at a time when the Mexican trafficking world was a loose and disorganised confederation of independent growers and dealers.
Throughout the new season, we're going to witness the rise of the Guadalajara Cartel in the 1980s as Félix Gallardo (Diego Luna) takes the helm, unifying traffickers in order to build an empire.
In terms of the show's future, what's important though is the fact that it has a new title. The next season will be called Narcos: Mexico, it's not Narcos - Season 4.
Now this colon is significant because it's clear that the show is starting to move away from the drug war that ravaged Colombian society. Essentially, Narcos looks set to tell more international stories about drugs trafficking from various different countries.
Now this is significant because it opens up the show to explore a litany of international drug dealers, police hunts, and criminal empires.
Narcos: Mexico is next but we're not ruling out the idea that the show's focus will move beyond Latin America. Again, nothing official has been confirmed yet but indulge us for a moment.
Imagine a scenario where we get Narcos: USA - the hunt for the notorious Frank Lucas (famously played by Denzel Washington in American Gangster). Narcos: UK could depict the life of Curtis Warren - a drugs trafficker that was formerly Interpol's Target One and listed on the Sunday Times Rich List.
How about Narcos: India? Basically, that could be an examination of Dawood Ibrahim - he had a massive drugs operation in southeast Asia and alleged ties to Osama bin-Laden.
The possibilities are endless and given the fact that audiences are seeking out intelligent and entertaining foreign-language shows - Money Heist, Dark and Sacred Games are perfect examples of this - it's very likely that the producers of Narcos will want to tap into the show's global appeal.
Whatever direction the show may take, one thing is clear - the creators of Narcos are refusing to draw a line after the demise of Escobar and the Cali cartel.
