McNairy says Breslin was inspired by a guy who “was with the agency for 20 years and stayed on after Operation Leyenda was over,” but “I’m not allowed to say” his name. That doesn’t mean the character isn’t based on one, though.
Unlike Steve Murphy and Javier Pena, the real-life agents portrayed on “Narcos” by Boyd Holbrook and Pedro Pascal, Walt Breslin is not the name of a real agent. Ultimately, McNairy relied on the show’s writers, who he says, compressed the 10-year Operation Leyenda into the three years (1986-89) covered by Season 2. “Those guys are doing it now, but it was completely different 30 years ago,” he says.
In his research, the actor met with former DEA agent James Kuykendall, who worked alongside Camarena in Mexico and was played in Season 1 by Matt Letscher. “I was very excited to come on the show,” says McNairy. McNairy was well-versed in the material, having seen all three seasons of the Colombia-based “Narcos,” which chronicled Pablo Escobar’s rise to power and eventual murder, and its Mexican counterpart. This season, he expands his role through 10 episodes as Operation Leyenda - the homicide investigation’s official name - hunts down the men who worked over Camarena in hopes of catching Gallardo.
McNairy, 42, debuted on the series last season as an occasional narrator and appeared on-camera in the season finale. “They didn’t’ want to be liable for it, but they gave the OK.” Two days later he was murdered when a hole was drilled into his head.Įnter Walt Breslin, a DEA agent with “carte blanche from the government to break the law and take it into his own hands,” according to Scoot McNairy, the Dallas-born actor who plays him in Season 2 of the Netflix series, premiering Thursday. In Season 1 of “Narcos: Mexico,” the gruesome murder of DEA agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena at the hands of drug lord Felix Gallardo (Diego Luna) was a turning point in the drug wars between Mexico and the US.Ĭamarena, played by Michael Pena, was kidnapped in 1985 by Jalisco police officers on Gallardo’s payroll and taken to his ranch. Saints for sinners: These are the patron saints worshiped by drug cartelsįeds offer $5M bounty for capture of 'El Chapo's sons Oil-stealing Mexican cartel boss sentenced to 60 years behind bars
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