"Narcos: Mexico's" Narrator Walt Breslin Is Based on These Real-Life DEA Agents
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Season 2 of Narcos: Mexico drops on Netflix on Thursday, February 13.
It's narrated by DEA agent Walt Breslin (Scoot McNairy), first introduced at the end of Narcos: Mexico season 1.
As Netflix told OprahMag.com, Walt is based on a composite of agents who worked on Operation Leyenda, the DEA-led investigation of agent Kiki Camarena's murder.
Season 1 of Narcos: Mexico ends with a final twist: the revelation that Walt Breslin (Scoot McNairy) is the mysterious narrator who weaved the tragic story of DEA agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena's (Michael Peña) brush with the Guadalajara Cartel.
Why didn't Kiki narrate, as Narcos's central DEA agents did in seasons past? Simple: Kiki couldn't narrate because he was murdered at the age of 37, likely by members of the Guadalajara Cartel. And Walt arrived to Mexico to investigate the abduction, torture, and murder of his colleague.
Succeeding Boyd Holbrook and Pedro Pascal as Narcos's narrator, McNairy brings a sense of fatalism to his voiceovers—which makes complete sense, knowing his character. Walt is highly skeptical of authority, yet nonetheless determined to find justice in unjust systems. Essentially, he's priming himself for disappointment.
In narrating season 1 of Narcos: Mexico, Walt explains how he ended up in Guadalajara, Mexico with a crew of other DEA agents. As part of Operation Leyenda, the DEA's largest-ever homicide investigation, Walt is in Mexico to learn the truth about Kiki's death.
However, unlike Kiki and the duo investigating the Medellin cartel in Narcos's earlier seasons, Walt is entirely a fictional construction, designed to push the show's narrative forward. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, showrunner Eric Newman said about half of Narcos is based on fact. Walt is part of the other, more dramatized half.
As Netflix told OprahMag.com, Walt is a "composite character, inspired by several real DEA agents operating at the time."
So, Walt wasn't real, but the actions he takes to pursue Guadalajara Cartel capo Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo (Diego Luna) are.
Like Walt, Isabella Bautista (Teresa Ruiz), the show's aspiring narcoista, straddles a similar line between fact and fiction. Gallardo never had a business partner named Isabella Bautista. However, her character is quite similar to Sandra Ávila Beltran, Gallardo's niece who became a powerful cocaine trafficker.
In fact, Ruiz, who is from Mexico, took the part because she was so interested in Beltran. “There was a woman in the ‘80s that had a role of introducing cocaine into the business when it was just being led by marijuana,” Ruiz told Refinery29. ”I knew this character was bound to come up in Narcos: Mexico, and that’s the character I wanted.”
Ultimately, characters like Walt and Isabella are necessary reminders that Narcos is a TV show–not a PBS documentary about the drug wars. While the show tells the story of recent history, it uses fictional elements to make that story move along.
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