'Narcos: Mexico' Season 2: Actor Alberto Zeni says rogue DEA task force will 'wreak havoc everywhere they go'
The second season of ‘Narcos: Mexico’, Netflix’s critically acclaimed crime drama series is at the doorstep. The dramatization of the formation of the Guadalajara Cartel in the early ‘80s in Mexico is really popular among fans and the highly-anticipated second season will see the aftermath of the torture and murder of American DEA agent Kiki Camarena (Michael Peña) and the further rise of Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo (Diego Luna), the “El Padrino” of the cartel.
Mexican actor Alberto Zeni, who plays Amat Palacios in the upcoming season, recently spoke to MEA WorldWide (MEAWW) about the show, his character and how it ties into the events of the first season's finale.
Palacios, per Zeni, is a former cop in Mexico who has close ties with the United States of America. He is bilingual -- speaks both English and Spanish -- and is a part of both the nations’ cultures. “He has a purpose at this moment in his life,” said Zeni. “He makes a deal with Walt Breslin (Scoot McNairy), in which, if he helps this rogue DEA team infiltrate Mexico -- and into these organizations -- his brother is gonna be released from prison.”
That itself reveals a fraction of the second season’s plot. Palacios’ motivations may not be the biggest part of the show; Zeni said it would be mentioned in passing. But it would do a great deal to provide depth to the character. “He’s savvy, he’s street-smart, he’s been doing the work for so long, so he knows how to cover his back and how to help others at the same time,” said Zeni.
Talking about how the murder of Kiki Camerena could possibly be tied to his character, Zeni said, “that is basically the whole purpose of this team. It’s not revenge. It’s more about finding out what really happened. Why this DEA agent, who wasn’t supposed to be where he was, ended up getting killed.”
Adding on the rogue DEA task force, Zeni said that there were no rules, no hierarchies. “It becomes a situation of wreaking havoc, everywhere they go,” he said.
This provides another important insight on the upcoming season: things are going to be wild. So far, in season one, the DEA team in Mexico had to navigate a lot of red tape and bureaucracy. In the absence of rules, the playing field evens out and Gallardo and his narcos would have a lot to deal with. This is also evident from the Season two trailer that has been more action-packed than anything in past four installments of ‘Narcos’ -- three seasons of the original and one season of the spin-off.
On the real-life basis of his character -- after all the show is based on true events -- Zeni said that his character was not necessarily based on a real person; rather it was a mix of several different people.
Watch the full interview here: