Netflix has released its first set of promotional images from its upcoming crime series, Griselda, starring Sofia Vergara.
The new six-episode limited drama, which comes from the team behind Narcos, will see the Modern Family actor play Griselda Blanco, the notorious drug lord who rose to prominence in the cocaine-based underworld of Miami during the 1970s through the early 2000s.
In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, Vergara revealed that she grew an avid interest in the ‘Black Widow’ figure while on Modern Family, which ended in 2020: “She had collected tons of images and stories and people who knew [Griselda Blanco],” said Narcos creator Eric Newman. “And she had really gone deep on someone who felt the pressure that she felt. I think that she really understood what it was like. She’s got a son and she came to this country as a young mother with not much of a plan.”
Director Andrés Baiz then recognised Vergara’s enthusiasm to demonstrate her dramatic skill. “This was a chance to reinvent herself and step out of her comfort zone, which was very brave of her,” Bias told EW. “She knew she had to dive in completely into this role and feel insecure and afraid, but she knew that all she had was her work, that she had to push herself to the limit.”
This follows an influx of crime drama series on the streaming platform, including the infamous Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, which garnered mixed reception after questions were raised surrounding its morality.
There were also reports that the show was created without the victim’s families’ consent, which was made worse after Evan Peters, who plays Dahmer in the series, won a Golden Globe for his performance.
As a result, the series creator Ryan Murphy responded with claims to have reached out to the families to get their blessing but never got a response: “Over the course of the three, three and a half years when we were really writing it, working on it, we reached out to 20, around 20 of the victims’ families and friends, trying to get input, trying to talk to people, and not a single person responded to us in that process,” Murphy said in a statement.
Adding: “So we relied very, very heavily on our incredible group of researchers who… I don’t even know how they found a lot of this stuff. But it was just like a night and day effort trying to uncover the truth of these people.”
Griselda will be arriving on the platform in January 2024. See the new sneak peek stills below.
