La Reina del Sur (telenovela)
La Reina del Sur | |
---|---|
Genre | Telenovela |
Created by | Nicolás Castañares |
Based on |
La Reina del Sur by Arturo Pérez-Reverte |
Developed by | |
Written by |
|
Story by | Arturo Pérez-Reverte |
Directed by |
|
Starring | |
Narrated by | Kate del Castillo |
Theme music composer | Bello Jaimes Teodoro |
Opening theme | "La Reina del Sur" performed by Los Cuates de Sinaloa |
Country of origin |
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Original language(s) | Spanish |
No. of episodes | 63 |
Production | |
Executive producer(s) | Patricio Wills |
Producer(s) | Ángel Ossorio |
Cinematography | Alejandro García W |
Editor(s) |
|
Camera setup | Multi-camera |
Release | |
Original network | |
Picture format | |
Audio format | Stereophonic sound |
First shown in | United States |
Original release | 28 February – 30 May 2011 |
Chronology | |
Related shows | Queen of the South |
La Reina del Sur (The Queen of the South) is a Spanish-language telenovela produced by the American television network Telemundo, in conjunction with the Antena 3 network and RTI Producciones. Based on a novel of the same name by Spanish author Arturo Pérez-Reverte, the drama depicts the rise of Teresa Mendoza (Kate del Castillo), a young woman from Mexico who becomes the most powerful drug trafficker in southern Spain. La Reina del Sur was nominated for Novela of the Year, Favorite Lead Actress, and Best Bad Luck Video.[1][2][3] With a $10 million budget it is the second most expensive telenovela ever produced by Telemundo, the first being El Señor de los Cielos.[4] An English language remake, Queen of the South, premiered in June 2016 on USA Network, starring Alice Braga.[5][6]
Plot
La Reina del Sur is the story of Teresa Mendoza (Kate del Castillo), a 23-year-old woman who is living with her boyfriend, "El Güero" (Rafael Amaya), a drug trafficker and rising star in the Sinaloa cartel. El Güero has been dabbling in his own trade, which is starting to cut into the cartel's profits, and is killed on the order of Epifanio Vargas (Humberto Zurita), the leader of the cartel. Teresa receives a phone call telling her to run. Teresa is unaware that El Güero's death was ordered by Vargas, mistakenly believing that he was killed by rivals in the organization. She trades El Güero's business ledger to Vargas in exchange for his help fleeing the country.
Arriving in Spain, Teresa is referred to work for Driss Larby, a businessman and low-level underworld operator in the Spanish enclave of Melilla on the North African coast. On the ferry, she meets Fátima Mansur, a prostitute who works at Driss' bar "El Yamilla." Teresa proves herself to be an invaluable asset by balancing Driss' books every night. Teresa meets Santiago Fisterra (Iván Sanchez), a Galician ("El Gallego") who works smuggling black market goods such as cigarettes across the strait of Gibraltar into Spain, and his friend Lalo. Teresa and Santiago begin dating, while Lalo dates Teresa's coworker Soraya. Knowing that Santiago is unhappy working the small time, Teresa arranges with Colonel Abdelkader Chaïb (Eduardo Velasco) to get Santiago into the hashish trade. The trade provides huge profits, and Teresa and Santiago move to Málaga.
A year later, Driss Larby is still smarting from Teresa's abandonment, and conspires with a Spanish Naval Officer, Cañagotas (Julio Pachón), who is on Chaïb's payroll, to have Santiago busted during a major drug run. Instead, Santiago crashes his boat into rocks at high speed and is killed, while Teresa is thrown free, arrested, and sent to jail. Santiago's crooked lawyer, Eddy Alvarez (Carlos Diez), subsequently liquidates all of Santiago and Teresa's property and spends it on his mistress.
In prison, Teresa meets Patricia O'Farrell (Cristina Urgel), the wild child in a wealthy Irish-Spanish family whose exasperated father has abandoned her after having had to bail her out of trouble too many times. The two become fast friends—although the bisexual Patricia clearly wants more. Upon release, Patty reveals to Teresa that she knows where a half ton of cocaine was hidden by her late boyfriend, and plans to sell it back to the Russian mob. During the negotiation, it becomes clear to the Russian mob boss, Oleg Yasilkov (Alberto Jiménez), that Teresa's business smarts would be a valuable asset to him. Teresa negotiates the retrieval of the cocaine from its hiding place, under the nose of the confounded Spanish police, the first of many successes in her new career as a rising drug lord.
DEA agent Willy Rangel (Cristian Tappan) travels to Spain, where he begins working with Flores to build a case against Teresa, who is rapidly becoming the most powerful drug trafficker in southern Spain. Backed by Yasilkov, and with the assistance of Teo Aljarafe (Miguel de Miguel), a lawyer and occasional lover of Patty, she opens Transer Naga, a shell company set up to disguise her true business. Shortly afterward, three assassins arrive from Mexico, bent on seeking revenge against Teresa. With Oleg's help, one of them is executed, one escapes, and one, "El Pote" (Dagoberto Gama) eventually becomes her personal bodyguard. Teresa and Teo grow closer, despite her reservations about it, and eventually embark on a relationship.
In the meantime, Willy has brought his assistant, Veronica (Sara Maldonado) to Spain to pose as a love interest for Patty in order to gain access to Transer Naga. Willy also pressures Teo into turning informant, threatening to reveal to Teresa that Teo has been skimming from the company. As months pass, Teresa and Teo attract media attention, and Patty, dumped by Veronica and jealous of Teresa replacing her as media darling, begins a downward spiral of drugs and alcohol. Stalking Veronica in an attempt to get her back, Patty learns the truth about her ex-girlfriend: that she works for the police and has been using Patty to take down Teresa. Distraught, Patty drives the car off of a cliff, killing Veronica. On awakening in the hospital, she tells Teresa everything she knows, then commits suicide.
In Mexico, Epifanio Vargas has been working as the chief of campaign for the next presidential election. His nephew (who is, in fact, his son) Ramiro (Salvador Zerboni) arranges for the candidate to be assassinated, ensuring that the candidacy will go to Vargas instead. Spurred on by the fact that the head of the Sinaloa cartel is about to be elected president of Mexico, the DEA changes tactics and offers Teresa immunity against prosecution if she agrees to testify against Vargas and destroy his political career. At the same time, Vargas asks Ramiro to bring Teresa back to Mexico under the guise of extending an invitation to attend his candidacy, but in reality to execute her because she is the only person still alive who knows about his criminal past.
Oleg presents Teresa with evidence that Teo is a police informant. Teresa sets a trap for Teo and confronts him with the truth, after which Pote executes him. Finding that the Spanish police are trying to obtain an arrest warrant and do an end-run around the DEA, Teresa accepts the immunity deal and agrees to testify against Vargas who, she realizes, has been her enemy all along. On her return to Culiacan, Vargas tries at first to plead with Teresa not to testify but, being unsuccessful, orders her assassination in a raid on the safe house where she is staying. Teresa narrowly escapes, shooting Ramiro in the chest point-blank after he has killed Pote. The next day, she leaves the police station in triumph and Vargas is led away in handcuffs.
A short coda shows a heavily pregnant Teresa, seven months later, living a life of peace and quiet in a seaside villa somewhere in Spain. A high shot of her walking along a pier, holding her belly and smiling, ends the series. In the last few episodes it is established that the show has taken place over the span of approximately thirteen years.
Reception
The program's premiere on February 28, 2011, was the network's highest rated premiere for a telenovela to date.[7] The program frequently dominated its time slot, even over English language programming on other major American networks.[8] La Reina del Sur completed its 63 episode run on Telemundo and its 13 episode run on Antena 3 simultaneously on May 30, 2011. The final episode was the highest rated broadcast in Telemundo's 19-year history (4.2 million viewers), and beat all of the English language American television networks to earn the number one slot in the 18-49 adult demographic.[9] The program's success spurred Telemundo to launch its first campaign to gain the series an Emmy Award nomination.[10] A one-night special featuring several cast members aired on May 31, 2011, and marked the Telemundo debut of noted Latina television personality Cristina Saralegui.
As part of Telemundo's changes in prime-time programming, Dama y Obrero ended on October 18, 2013. From October 21 to November 8, Telemundo temporarily aired 2 hours of Marido en Alquiler weeknights at 8pm/7c, replacing Dama y Obrero. On November 11, the network started rerunning La Reina del Sur weeknights at 9pm/8c, replacing one hour of Marido en Alquiler.[11][12] The last episode was broadcast on February 17, with En Otra Piel replacing it the following night.
La Reina del Sur is broadcast in several other markets, including Serbia, Colombia,[13] Chile,[14] Cyprus,[15] Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Mexico, Albania, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Romania, (among others).
Production
La Reina del Sur was announced by Telemundo as part of its 2010-2011 program year in early 2010. The majority of the program was shot in the fall of 2010 at Telemundo's studios in Colombia. Several actors and sets were simultaneously used for more than one production. Sets depicting Morocco in the telenovela El Clon were also used to depict Gibraltar and Fez during filming. Some scenes filmed in Colombia were also used in El Cartel 2: La Guerra Total.
Rafael Amaya shot some scenes for La Reina del Sur while also filming Alguien te mira. Sara Maldonado also did double duty for this and Aurora.
Footage was also shot on location in Mexico, Spain, Gibraltar, United States, and Morocco.
Opening credits and theme
The opening credits for the show were displayed after a lengthy cold open (generally 15–20 minutes into the broadcast). The credits featured a montage of scenes from throughout the series.
The theme song, performed by Los Cuates de Sinaloa, is a cover of Los Tigres del Norte's 2002 song, "La Reina del Sur". The cover version's lyrics recount the story of Perez Reverte's fictional heroine.
Cast
Main
- Kate del Castillo as Teresa Mendoza
- Humberto Zurita as Epifanio Vargas
- Rafael Amaya as Raimundo Dávila Parra "El Güero"
- Iván Sánchez as Santiago López Fisterra "El Gallego"
- Cristina Urgel as Patricia O'Farrell
Also main
- Alberto Jiménez as Oleg Yasikov
- Miguel de Miguel as Teo Aljarafe
- Gabriel Porras as Roberto Gato Márquez "El Gato Fierros"
- Salvador Zerboni as Ramiro Vargas "El Ratas"
- Nacho Fresneda as Dris Larbi
- Alejandro Calva as César Güemes "Batman"
- Mónica Estarreado as Fátima Mansur
- Karim El-Kerem as Mohamed Mansur
- Cuca Escribano as Sheila
- Dagoberto Gama as Potequim Gálvez "El Pote"
- Christian Tappán as Willy Rangel
- Alfonso Vallejo as Manolo Céspedes
- Pablo Castañón as Lalo Veiga
- Miguel Ángel Blanco as Siso Pernas
- Lorena Santos as Soraya
Recurring
- Sara Maldonado as Verónica Cortés "Guadalupe Romero"
- Carmen Navarro as Marcela "La Conejo"
- Santiago Meléndez as Saturnino "Nino" Juárez
- Eduardo Velasco as Coronel Abdelkader Chaib
- Klaus as Eddie Álvarez
- Lincoln Palomeque as Faustino Sánchez Godoy
- Nerea Garmendia as Eugenia Montijo
- Diego Mignone as Cucho Malaspina
Guest
- Juan Pablo Raba as Jaime Gutiérrez Solana
- Ezequiel Montalt as Jaime "Jimmy" Arenas
- Rodolfo Valdés as El Chino Parra
Broadcast
The series originally aired from February 28, 2011 to May 30, 2011 in the United States on Telemundo, and was repeated from November 11, 2013 through February 17, 2014. On August 22, 2016, La Reina del Sur premiered in the Philippines on TV5 dubbed in Filipino.
US ratings
Air Date | Number | Episode Title | Rating | Duration |
---|---|---|---|---|
28.02.2011 | 001 | Correr para vivir | 2,400,000 | 45 minutes |
01.03.2011 | 002 | Vía de escape | 2,841,000 | 40 minutes |
02.03.2011 | 003 | Detener inocentes | 14.1 | |
03.03.2011 | 004 | Juego de suerte | 12.6 | |
04.03.2011 | 005 | Vendida por droga | 11.6 | |
07.03.2011 | 006 | Honor herido | 12.1 | |
08.03.2011 | 007 | Venganza Mexicana | 12.0 | |
09.03.2011 | 008 | Escapar del destino | 12.6 | |
10.03.2011 | 009 | Deseo Gallego | 12.8 | |
11.03.2011 | 010 | Pesadilla de tráfico | 11.3 | |
14.03.2011 | 011 | Jugar con la vida | 11.0 | |
15.03.2011 | 012 | Matar por amor | 11.5 | |
16.03.2011 | 013 | Sacrificio de amor | 11.4 | |
17.03.2011 | 014 | Carrera de Hachís | 11.3 | |
18.03.2011 | 015 | Víctima de tortura | 10.5 | |
21.03.2011 | 016 | Amor a la Mexicana | 12.4 | |
22.03.2011 | 017 | Misión cumplida | 11.8 | |
23.03.2011 | 018 | Amar con locura | 11.7 | |
24.03.2011 | 019 | Amor mortal | 11.8 | |
25.03.2011 | 020 | Pelea de Sudacas | 11.3 | |
28.03.2011 | 021 | Objeto de deseo | 13.7 | |
29.03.2011 | 022 | Mala suerte | 12.9 | |
30.03.2011 | 023 | Libertad peligrosa | 13.9 | |
31.03.2011 | 024 | Tesoro de mafia | 13.6 | |
01.04.2011 | 025 | Apuesta rusa | 12.4 | |
04.04.2011 | 026 | Tráfico de influencias | 14.5 | |
05.04.2011 | 027 | Enemiga mortal | 14.5 | |
06.04.2011 | 028 | Camino de ceniza | 13.4 | |
07.04.2011 | 029 | Víctima de su Juego | 13.5 | |
08.04.2011 | 030 | Muerte por amor | 12.7 | |
11.04.2011 | 031 | Culpable de masacre | 13.7 | |
12.04.2011 | 032 | Pistas señaladas | 14.4 | |
13.04.2011 | 033 | Escape de suerte | 13.3 | |
14.04.2011 | 034 | Mexicanos a la brasa | 14.3 | |
15.04.2011 | 035 | Morir o vivir | 13.5 | |
18.04.2011 | 036 | Pacto de muerte | 14.9 | |
19.04.2011 | 037 | Salvar reinas | 14.7 | |
20.04.2011 | 038 | Guerra de Reina | 3,058,000 | |
21.04.2011 | 039 | Atracción desmedida | 2,725,000 | |
25.04.2011 | 040 | Vida doble | 2,989,000 | |
26.04.2011 | 041 | Seduccion mortal | 2,796,000 | |
27.04.2011 | 042 | Ajustar cuentas | 3,054,000 | |
02.05.2011 | 043 | Alianza sangrienta | 2,752,000 | |
03.05.2011 | 044 | Venganza de Reina | 2,725,000 | |
04.05.2011 | 045 | Enemigos cercanos | 13.7 | |
05.05.2011 | 046 | Celebrar divorcios | 13.1 | |
06.05.2011 | 047 | Marcar territorio | 12.7 | |
09.05.2011 | 048 | Despedida suicida | 13.7 | |
10.05.2011 | 049 | Primera plana | 13.0 | |
11.05.2011 | 050 | Deseos de traición | 13.0 | |
12.05.2011 | 051 | Sin salida | 12.9 | |
13.05.2011 | 052 | Amor ciego | 11.5 | |
16.05.2011 | 053 | Engaño fatal | 13.7 | |
17.05.2011 | 054 | Abismo extremo | 13.5 | |
18.05.2011 | 055 | Víctima mortal | 13.2 | |
19.05.2011 | 056 | Amor suicida | 13.2 | |
20.05.2011 | 057 | Arma blanca | 12.7 | |
23.05.2011 | 058 | Traición certera | 13.4 | |
24.05.2011 | 059 | Juego de estafa | 13.8 | |
25.05.2011 | 060 | Estafa mortal | 14.9 | |
26.05.2011 | 061 | Escape y amenaza | 14.3 | |
27.05.2011 | 062 | Última huida | 13.3 | |
30.05.2011 | 063 | Final impactante | 4,200,000 |
Awards and nominations
Year | Award | Category | Nominated | Result |
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2011 | Premios People en Español[16] | |
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Won |
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Nominated | ||
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Nominated | ||
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Won | ||
Nominated | ||||
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2012 | Premios TVyNovelas (Colombia) |
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Nominated | |
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Premios tu mundo 2012 | |
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Remake
An English language remake, Queen of the South, premiered in June 2016 on USA Network, starring Alice Braga.[5][6]
References
- ↑ TELEMUNDO PRESENTS THE FIRST EDITION OF “PREMIOS TU MUNDO” (YOUR WORLD AWARDS) CELEBRATING THE BEST IN POP CULTURE THURSDAY, AUGUST 30 FROM 8PM-11PM/ET
- ↑ Premios tu mundo 2012: Categorías y Nominados
- ↑ Lista de ganadores de la primera edición de los premios Tu Mundo
- ↑ Guthrie, Marisa (1 April 2011). "How the Telenovela Is Beating the Networks". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 12 May 2011.
- 1 2 N'Duka, Amanda (9 June 2016). "Queen Of The South EP & Cast Talk Female Empowerment And The Importance of Keeping It Real". Deadline.com. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
- 1 2 Andreeva, Nellie (23 September 2014). "La Reina Del Sur Adaptation Picked Up By USA Network As Drama Pilot". Deadline.com. Retrieved 23 February 2016.
- ↑ Ng, Philiana. "Telemundo's 'La Reina Del Sur' Telenovela Has Strong Launch". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 12 May 2011.
- ↑ Ng, Philiana. "Telemundo's 'La Reina del Sur' Tops Broadcast in Ratings". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 12 May 2011.
- ↑ Gorman, Bill. ""La Reina Del Sur" Draws Best Audience Ever For Telemundo Entertainment Program, Averaging Nearly 4.2 Million Total Viewers". TV by the Numbers. Retrieved 1 June 2011.
- ↑ Keneally, Tim. "Telemundo Launches Its First Emmy Campaign; Will Tout 'La Reina Del Sur'". The Wrap.
- ↑ Novelas de Telemundo: nuevo horario
- ↑ "La Reina del Sur" vuelve el 11/11 a Telemundo
- ↑ "Anuncian estreno de La Reina del sur en tv colombiana". El Universal. Retrieved 13 May 2011.
- ↑ "La Reina del Sur llegó a Chile este lunes". prlatam. Retrieved 13 May 2011.
- ↑ La Reina Del Sur lands in Cyprus - Telemundo Internacional
- ↑ Premios People En Español 2011