Pedro Pascal’s 6 best roles in movies and TV, ranked

4. Pedro Pascal as…Javier Peña in Narcos

After Pascal broke out in 2014 as Oberyn Martell on Game of Thrones, he was suddenly in demand (and because his character died in the same season as he was introduced, he was free to act on the opportunities coming his way). Soon enough, he had a follow-up show ready: Narcos, a Netflix crime drama and Pascal’s first show where he was billed at the top of the call sheet.

Narcos is based on the real-life story for legendary Columbian drug lord Pablo Escobar and the years-long effort by authorities to bring him down. Pedro Pascal plays Javier Peña, an actual DEA agent who helped fight the Medellin cartel in the ’80s. Pascal met with the real Peña for research.

Pascal is a big part of Narcos, but it’s an ensemble drama at heart. Peña is partnered with DEA agent Steve Murphy. Peña takes the “bad cop” role in their partnership, getting down and dirty and going to any lengths necessary to bring down the cartel. He’s not quite as self-destructive as some of TV’s other famous bad cops, but he’s a compelling character Pascal brings to life with grit, charm, and danger.

Narcos ran for three seasons on Netflix, where you can watch it right now. It’s a respectable, entertaining period piece that helped establish Pascal as a viable TV star, although it never quite broke out and became a proper television phenomenon. But Pascal would have plenty of experience with that: