The small screen has had a wealth of immigration stories in the last few years. From looking at the experiences of Indigenous immigrants from Latin America to seeing how some members of this community distrusts the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, we’ve seen a lot of different sides to this topic. In 2020, we’ll get at least one more, a new hour-long Paramount Network series, Coyote.
Colombian actor Juan Pablo Raba is set to lead opposite Michael Chiklis in the show, which will follow Chiklis’ Ben Clemens, a former border patrol agent who is “forced to work for the very people he spent his career trying to keep out of America.” Raba will play the “charming and impeccably dressed” El Cartin, the overseer of a small family cartel. The two will have to pair up as Clemens questions his life choices.
David Graziano (American Gods), Michael Carnes and Josh Gilbert will write the series. Graziano will also be the showrunner.
While it’s hard to judge a show that we haven’t seen before (and that we only have limited information on), we imagine Coyote might face backlash by centering a former border patrol agent. In 2018, author Francisco Cantú, who worked as a border patrol agent for years, released a memoir about the abuses at the border. Many questioned why someone who participated in the dehumanization of immigrants should be a prominent voice on the issue of immigration.
But it’s too soon to tell the direction of the show, so maybe we’ll be surprised by the outcome.
Coyote will premiere sometime in 2020.