Yankee, Netflix’s new Spanish-language series filmed in Mexico, premiered recently on the streaming network. Yankee tells the story of a young businessman from Arizona who becomes a drug lord to protect his family.
Netflix is producing the series in collaboration with the Mexico-based production company Argos. Netflix was reportedly encouraged to produce Yankee after the success of its drug cartel drama Narcos, three seasons of which have been filmed in Colombia.
Netflix then rebranded Narcos as Narcos: Mexico and moved filming to Mexico for Season 4.
Yankee is directed by Carlos Carrera, best known for directing The Crime of Padre Amaro (El crimen del Padre Amaro, 2002) and Backyard (2009). The series is executive produced by Epigmenio Ibarra and Verónica Velasco, and stars telenovela actor Pablo Lyle.
The writing team for the series includes Diego Enrique Osorno, Eduardo Antonio Parra, Cesar Gandara, and Alexandro Aldrete and Alo Valenzuela.
What is Yankee about?
The new series follows a U.S. entrepreneur Malcolm Moriarty (Pablo Lyle) from Texas, who is forced to cross the U.S. border into the Mexico where he becomes a powerful drug lord.
Netflix is similar to the streaming platform’s popular drug crime drama Narcos, and if you have enjoyed Narcos, you are also likely to love Yankee. But unlike Narcos, which followed the life of the real-life drug lord Pablo Escobar, Yankee is a fictional narrative that focuses on the personal life and family of Moriarty concerning his drug business.
Although the series is fictional, the in-depth portrayal of Moriarty’s personal life in Yankee is inspired by what is known about the private lives of real-life Mexican drug bosses.
With the involvement of Mexico-based production company Argos, fans can expect the TV series to meet high-quality standards. Argos is already well-known in the industry for its movies and telenovelas which include La habitación azul (2002), Ladies’ Night (2003), Lucía, Lucía (2003), Fuera del cielo (2007), and Cronica de Una Muerte Anunciada (2010).
Argos’ most recent and popular telenovela productions include The Lord of the Skies (2013), Lady of Steel (2014), Vuelve Temprano (2016), La Doña (2016), El Chema (2016), Enemigo Íntimo (2017), Ingobernable (2017), and False Identity (2018).