There’s no drama quite like family drama. And while HBO subscribers are going gaga for Succession, Netflix and Salma Hayek are here to offer you their own take on a billionaire family wrestling with how to manage a lucrative if corrupt family business. Executive produced by the Frida star, Monarca takes its title from the tequila-born Mexican business empire that Fausto Carranza (David Rencoret) has built and is now ready to bequeath to one of his children. Not a decision to be made lightly, he’s intent on trusting his only daughter Ana María (Irene Azuela), who’s been living abroad, over her siblings, Andrés (Osvaldo Benavides) and Joaquín (Juan Manuel Bernal), both of whom see no problem in continuing the illicit and corrupt practices that have kept them wealthy and in power. Of course, once the family patriarch dies, the choice of Monarca’s future will lie with his wife, who’ll have to make the tough decision of what kind of future for family and business her children will create.
Weaving a tale of the family dysfunction with requisite subplots about closeted husbands, bullied teenagers, and assassination attempts alongside a thrilling indictment of power, privilege, and corruption, Monarca plays like a timely prestige telenovela. After a Hayek-ful teaser from a few weeks back, the streaming service released a full-blown taste of what to expect from what was the No. 1 show on Netflix in Mexico the weekend after it premiered. Boasting a glossy look akin to Netflix’s own Ingobernable and high-budget action spectacle similar to Narcos: Mexico, this look at the one-percenters in Guadalajara has the makings of an explosive binge-worthy drama. Check out the full trailer below.
Monarca is now streaming on Netflix.