12.01.49, 12.02.93, 09.02.16: Three dates that comprise the only text in Netflix’s new 30-second spot for the upcoming second season of Narcos. The first two, of course, are the fortuitously linked dates of Pablo Escobar’s birth and death, while the second is the early-September release date for Narcos’ much-anticipated season two.
We admit, it may be a bit of a stretch to put the season two premiere of Narcos alongside Escobar’s birth and death — as if episodes 11-20 of this biographical crime thriller were anywhere near as important — but with all the early spoiler chisme about Escobar kicking the bucket at the end of the upcoming season, this may be a subtle effort to add fuel to the fire of speculation.
All of this is accompanied by faded images of an especially grizzled-looking Wagner Moura, who dons an Al Pacino-worthy scowl, and is driven along by Pedro Bromfman’s bossa-inflected original score.
Season one of director-executive producer José Padilha’s critically-acclaimed serial thriller left off last year with Escobar in a pretty tight spot, but we can be sure that creator Chris Brancato and the rest of the writing team will squeeze plenty more twists and turns out of Narcos‘ morally ambiguous cat-and-mouse game. The only big question now is whether Don Pablo will make it back for a third season.