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She’s going to have a lot of “lines.”
“Modern Family” alum Sofia Vergara has been tapped to play the late, notorious drug trafficker Griselda Blanco in a limited Netflix series about the cocaine queen’s life.
“Griselda Blanco was a larger-than-life character whose ruthless but ingenious tactics allowed her to rule a billion-dollar empire years before many of the most notorious male kingpins we know so much about,” the 49-year-old Emmy-nominee said in a statement regarding the exciting new role. It will mark the actress’ first on-screen appearance since wrapping the ABC comedy “Modern Family” last year.
Entitled “Griselda,” the show will chronicle the rise and fall of the Medellin-born crime matriarch, who helmed one of the most lucrative cartels in history and helped turn sunny Miami into a blood-spattered war zone in the 1980s. Blanco also infamously had a penchant for killing — or ordering — the deaths of all of her husbands, which earned her the nickname “The Black Widow.”
The upcoming series — which will consist of six 50-minute episodes — is the brainchild of “Empire” scribe Ingrid Escajeda, who is serving as showrunner, writer and executive producer. She’ll be collaborating with Eric Newman, Doug Miro, Andrés Baiz and Carlo Bernard — the team who created “Narcos” – although, contrary to rampant rumors, “Griselda” is not a spinoff of Netflix’s acclaimed drug drama.
“We are thrilled to have found the perfect partners in Eric, Andrés and Netflix to help us bring this story of her life to the screen,” said Vergara, who will also executive produce the project alongside Luis Balaguer for Latin World Entertainment.
Newman added: “Griselda Blanco has long been a passion project for Sofia and we are grateful that she and her partners at LatinWe have chosen us to help her tell that story.
“Sofia is a brilliant talent and her passion combined with a fantastic story from Doug and Ingrid, and the amazing Andrés Baiz at the directing helm, means we have a very exciting series to share with audiences.”
The “Chef” actress isn’t the first to play Griselda Blanco, who was previously portrayed by Catherine Zeta-Jones in the widely-panned Lifetime flick “Cocaine Godmother,” released in 2017. Meanwhile, pop icon Jennifer Lopez is reportedly developing another Griselda Blanco series called “The Godmother.”
The late drug trafficker, who was killed at age 69 in 2012, also featured prominently in the acclaimed Billy Corben documentary “Cocaine Cowboys” (2006) and its 2008 sequel, “Cocaine Cowboys 2: Hustlin’ With the Godmother.”
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