Mexican artist Alfonso “Poncho Herrera” returned to Netflix this Friday as the main antagonist in the final season of the acclaimed series “Ozark”, in which he plays a “complicated” Mexican drug trafficker who makes life impossible for spouses Byrde.

“It was a job that had its difficulties because Javier Elizonndro is an unpredictable man full of contradictions and to play a role like that you have to understand what moves him, what makes him react in one way or another and then incorporate it”, explained the 38-year-old actor in an interview with Efe.

What did not cost him the least bit of trouble was deciding to audition for the role, although in the past he had wrinkled his nose at roles that reaffirmed negative stereotypes about Latinos and Latin Americans in the United States.

“I have been a fan of the series since the first season and I knew well the point of view from which the story of the Byrdes and their relationship with drug trafficking and gray finances have developed,” said Herrera, who rose to world fame at the end of the last century as part of the youth gang RBD.

“In general, the productions that touch on this subject place the responsibility on the South. In ‘Ozark’ you see from the beginning that the problem of trafficking and laundering has dark sides that come from many worlds and that there is also a lot of blame in the North”, he said.

On the other hand, there was also the fact that it was one of the most popular series on Netflix and the actors with whom I would have the opportunity to work. Even so, he was surprised by the rough edges of Javier’s character and devoted himself body and soul to preparing for the audition that took place in New York. Five days later they gave him the positive news he was waiting for.

HOLLYWOOD ROYALTY

The first part of the final season of “Ozark” premiered this Friday worldwide on Netflix. Since the very first episode, Marty Byrde and his wife Wendy have been tangled up in their money laundering business. Now they have to deal with the character of Herrera, who is the nephew of drug trafficker Omar Navarro.

“My scenes are mostly with Jason Bateman (Marty) and Laura Linney (Wendy), two of the most talented actors I know who have been doing this and their characters for ages. They know them from top to bottom. It was a real pleasure and a school to work with them”, Herrera underlined.

Not that he is a rookie. With “Ozark”, the artist has already been part of three Netflix original productions. He had a secondary role in “Sense 8”, the series by Lana Wachowski (The Matrix), where he played a couple with the Spanish Miguel Ángel Silvestre. He also starred in the movie “El baile de los 41”.

“We’re doing well, but we have to keep going,” said Herrera after receiving uneasily the compliments about the career he has developed both in Mexico and in the United States.

This year he will also premiere his movie “Me married an idiot”, a Mexican romantic comedy, and two fiction podcasts that have him excited.

THE PRICE OF THE FAME

A quick internet search for the latest news on Alfonso Herrera turns up headlines in English about “Ozark,” but in Spanish most refer to their recent split and rumors of new romances.

The artist has erected an insurmountable barrier around his personal life, which includes two young children, Daniel and Nicolás, the youngest born in December 2020, in full confinement against covid-19.

Shortly after, Herrera moved to the town of Allatoona, in the state of Georgia, where the series was filmed with strict protocols to contain the spread of the coronavirus, but the intimacies ended there. “The only thing I can say about my personal life is that I love my job,” he said.