Quick Read
- Rafael Amaya is set to star in a new bilingual series about Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán.
- The series will be told from the perspective of El Chapo’s wife, Emma Coronel, who is also an executive producer.
- Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán is currently serving a life sentence plus 30 years in the U.S.
- Emma Coronel was released from prison in 2023 after serving time for drug trafficking and money laundering.
- El Chapo’s sons, Ovidio Guzmán López and Joaquin Guzmán Lopez, were arrested in 2023 and 2024, respectively.
MEXICO CITY (Azat TV) – The enduring notoriety of Joaquín Guzmán Loera, widely known as “El Chapo,” is set to resurface in a new bilingual scripted series, told from the unique perspective of his wife, Emma Coronel Aispuro. The project, currently in development, will star actor Rafael Amaya and is executive produced by Coronel herself, signaling a renewed public interest in the life and legacy of the former Sinaloa Cartel leader, who is currently serving a life sentence in the United States.
This development comes as Guzmán’s criminal empire continues to face legal challenges, with recent arrests of his sons highlighting the persistent influence of his network. The series aims to explore themes of power, loyalty, and survival through Coronel’s personal journey, depicting her relationship with Guzmán and the profound personal consequences she faced.
Emma Coronel Spearheads New Series on El Chapo
The untitled series, which is actively seeking a writer, will feature Rafael Amaya, celebrated for his extensive role as Aurelio Casillas in Telemundo’s hit series El Señor de los Cielos. Amaya will not only star but also serve as an executive producer alongside Coronel and his producing partner Martiza Ramos through Amaya Productions, with Zero Gravity Management also involved. Emma Coronel, who was released from prison in 2023 after serving three years for drug trafficking and money laundering, brings an insider’s perspective to the narrative.
Coronel, who married Guzmán in 2007 and shares twin daughters born in 2011, has stated that her husband was a longtime admirer of Amaya’s work. She noted that Guzmán would be pleased to see Amaya portray him, particularly praising the actor’s ability to adopt a Sinaloense accent, which Guzmán found lacking in previous portrayals by other actors like Marco de la O in Netflix’s El Chapo and Alejandro Edda in Narcos: Mexico. Coronel will not play herself in the series but will have a vote in the casting, an important factor given her dissatisfaction with prior depictions of her character.
El Chapo’s Ongoing Legal and Cartel Impact
Joaquín Guzmán Loera, once considered one of the world’s most powerful international criminal organizations’ co-founders, was convicted in U.S. federal court in 2019 on multiple drug trafficking and criminal enterprise charges. He is currently serving a life sentence plus 30 years. Despite his imprisonment, the reach of his former cartel and the legal battles surrounding his family continue to make headlines.
In recent years, several of Guzmán’s sons have been targeted by authorities. In January 2023, Ovidio Guzmán López, another son of El Chapo, was arrested in Culiacán, Sinaloa. This was followed by the July 2024 arrest of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, a Sinaloa Cartel partner, along with another of El Chapo’s sons, Joaquin Guzmán Lopez, near El Paso, Texas. These arrests underscore the ongoing efforts by Mexican and U.S. authorities to dismantle the cartel’s leadership structure and curb its operations, even after its notorious leader’s capture.
Recapture and Notoriety of the Drug Kingpin
El Chapo’s career was marked by dramatic escapes and recaptures. He was recaptured in January 2016 after escaping from a maximum-security prison near Toluca in July 2015. This recapture, in the beach resort of Mazatlán, shared a key detail with the recent operation against Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, ‘El Mencho,’ the leader of the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), who was killed in February 2026. In both cases, authorities were able to pinpoint the drug lords’ locations through visits from romantic partners, a method highlighted by Mexico’s Secretary of National Defense, Ricardo Trevilla, in the aftermath of El Mencho’s death. This consistent vulnerability points to a recurring pattern in the pursuit of high-profile cartel figures.
The current series development, coupled with Emma Coronel’s memoir also in progress, suggests a deliberate effort to control the narrative surrounding Guzmán and his family, potentially reshaping public perception of one of the most infamous figures in modern organized crime.
The announcement of a new series from the perspective of Emma Coronel, El Chapo’s wife, marks a notable shift from previous media portrayals, offering a deeply personal angle that could humanize or recontextualize the story of a figure synonymous with Mexico’s drug wars. This approach, combined with the ongoing arrests of his cartel-linked sons, ensures that Joaquín Guzmán Loera remains a focal point in discussions about crime, justice, and media representation.