Griselda: Netflix sued by drug lord’s only surviving son

Griselda hasn’t even aired on Netflix yet, but the streaming platform is now being sued by Blanco’s only surviving son.

A crime drama with a heavy dose of drugs is likely to be a sure success for any channel, with the creative team behind Narcos and Narcos Mexico bringing the story of Griselda Blanco to Netflix later this week.

Starring Sofia Vergara in the titular role, the series follows “the savvy and ambitious Colombian businesswomen Griselda Blanco” as she “creates one of the most profitable cartels in history.”

However, before it even begins to air its episodes, the streaming platform is now being sued by Griselda’s only surviving son.

Griselda: Netflix sued by drug lord’s only surviving son

According to a report from Rolling Stone, Netflix is being sued by Griselda Blanco’s only surviving son for stealing his “private artistic literary work.”

From the perspective of Michael Sepulveda Blanco, both star Sofia Vergara and the executive producers behind Griselda – including Eric Newman – have stolen his “private artistic literary work,” causing “irreparable injury” and “damage [to] his reputation in the entertainment community” as due credit isn’t given to him.

Blanco has submitted a 10-page motion, citing that the show uses “private narratives” shared by two of his former partners with Netflix without his consent, with the original partner agreement dating back to 2009.

The motion aims to invoke a temporary injunction, which is a provisional court order prohibiting an action until there has been a trial, or other court action.

It is also suggested that Blanco “devoted several years to meticulously documenting the private narratives of his, as well as his mother’s life, with the intention of publishing a book and developing a Spanish soap opera.” It also alleges that Netflix had previously told Blanco that there were no plans to work with him or to utilize these alleged private narratives.

Griselda currently has a Tomatometer rating of 86% on Rotten Tomatoes, and is due to drop on the streaming platform on January 25.

In our review of the limited series, we said: “After watching its six episodes, many might be left wondering – have we seen this all before? It’s possible that both a tale of narcotics supremacy and a woman finding her own feet have been better tackled separately, with the blending of the two worlds resulting in something that is likely to fly under the radar. In short, there’s little in the way of magic spark here – viewers may often feel as lost as Blanco does in the earlier episodes of the series.

“Viewers will certainly enjoy Griselda in the moment, but they’ll be hard-pressed to remember it as time goes by. Sofia Vergara continuously works hard to remove herself from her Modern Family shadow, but an adequate storyline can often overshadow her progress.”