Narcos: Mexico premiered in 2018, with its first season released on Netflix on November 16 of that year. The date marks the debut of the companion series focused on the rise of Mexico's modern drug trade.
The show was initially conceived as a fourth season of Narcos. Netflix later reshaped that plan into a separate series with a new central setting and largely new cast. Its story begins in the 1980s and follows Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, played by Diego Luna, as he builds the Guadalajara Cartel.
Narcos: Mexico is related to the original Narcos, but it is not simply a continuation of the same storyline. The parent series concentrates mainly on Colombia and Pablo Escobar before turning to the Cali Cartel. The companion series shifts attention to Mexico while retaining historical and criminal links between the two worlds.
The premiere year is sometimes confused with the dates of later seasons: season 2 premiered in 2020, and the third and final season arrived in 2021. The series therefore began in 2018, even though its complete run extended several years beyond that debut.