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Griselda (miniseries)

Griselda is an American biographical crime drama television miniseries directed by Andrés Baiz and produced by Eric Newman and Sofía Vergara. It is written by Doug Miro and Ingrid Escajeda. It stars Vergara as Griselda Blanco, a notorious Colombian drug lord. The miniseries premiered on Netflix on January 25, 2024, and consists of six episodes, each lasting about an hour.

The miniseries received generally positive reviews from critics, with praise going towards Vergara's performance. In the first week after its release, it debuted at number one in 90 countries and topped Netflix's Global Weekly Top 10 TV (English).

Plot

The story follows Griselda Blanco, a prominent crime boss, and her rise in the Miami drug scene and pursuit of power and wealth. Drug use, paranoia, and betrayal lead to her downfall, with her actions resulting in multiple deaths, including that of a child. To escape retaliation from the cartel, Griselda turns herself in to the police but faces unexpected consequences. Despite serving time in prison, tragedy strikes when most of her children are murdered. The series ends with Griselda imagining a peaceful beach scene with her children. The show serves as a cautionary tale about the destructive pursuit of power. Griselda was assassinated in 2012 in Medellín, Colombia.

Cast and characters

Main

Recurring

Guest

Episodes

Production

Development

On November 3, 2021, it was reported that Netflix was in the process of developing a new crime drama miniseries based on the real life of Colombian drug trafficker Griselda Blanco. The miniseries would be produced by Eric Newman, Sofía Vergara, and Luis Balaguer for Latin World Entertainment. A Colombian native, Baiz directed all episodes. Baiz, with Doug Miro and Carlos Bernard, who are part of the Narcos creative team, would serve as executive producers, and Ingrid Escajeda and Miro would serve as showrunners. On January 19, 2022, Netflix released a first-look photo of Vergara in character as real-life drug queenpin Griselda Blanco, in a sneak peek of the upcoming limited series. The release also revealed 12 newly confirmed cast members, including Vanessa Ferlito and Juliana Aidén Martinez. The cast also includes Alberto Guerra, Alberto Ammann, Christian Tappan, Diego Trujillo, Paulina Davila, Gabriel Sloyer, Martin Rodriguez, José Zúñiga, Maximiliano Hernández, Julieth Restrepo and Carolina Giraldo (best known as Karol G—a famous singer from Medellín—in her first major acting role).

Filming

Filming for the miniseries began on January 17, 2022, in Los Angeles.

Release

The series was released on Netflix on January 25, 2024.

On January 17, members of Griselda Blanco's family filed a lawsuit for unauthorized use of likenesses and called on a judge to halt the release of the show.

Reception

Audience viewership

During its debut week, Griselda debuted at number one in 90 countries and topped the Netflix Global Weekly Top 10 TV (English) chart, just three days after its release, with a total of 20.6 million viewers and 113.8 million hours viewed. It maintained the position in the following week, garnering 114.1 million viewing hours.

Critical response

Griselda was met with generally positive reviews from critics, with praise for Vergara's performance, though some historical inaccuracies received criticism. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 87% of 52 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.8/10. The website's consensus reads: "Sofía Vergara impressively disappears into the role of Griselda Blanco in this propulsive gangster saga, which plays loose with the facts but achieves genuine grit." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the show a score of 64 out of 100 based on 19 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

TVLine named Sofía Vergara their performer of the week, for the week of January 27, 2024, specifically for her performance in episode five, "Paradise Lost". The site deemed it a "career-defining" performance, writing that "Vergara's unwavering commitment and out-of-left-field gravitas elevates Griselda to one of those rare edge-of-your-seat TV experiences".

Some in Colombia have challenged aspects of the production for "glorif[ying] ... a bygone era of rampant violence and drugs" and Griselda as a heroine. Diego Cortes, an assistant professor of media studies at the University of Oregon, "said the series was regurgitating tired stereotypes" but was also highlighting the role of North Americans in "their role in the drug trafficking industry ... [as] cocaine customers" whom Griselda identified as a market.

Awards and nominations

Lawsuit

Michael Corleone Blanco, the real life son of Blanco, and his wife, Marie, sued Netflix, Vergara, and others over the series due to alleged unauthorized usage of the family's "image, likeness, and/or identity" without consent or compensation in January 2024. The suit was dismissed with prejudice in February 2024.