Buena Vista Announces New Original Series ‘Centauro del Norte’

By Jamie Lang

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Disney-owned production company Buena Vista Original Productions has announced a new series inspired by the life of legendary Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa, titled “Centauro del Norte” (Centaur of the North).

A fictionalized version of Villa’s life story, the series will begin with the historical figure, real name Doroteo Arango, as a young bandit during his adolescence in the Mexican pueblo of Durango, and tracks his rise and eventual establishment as the most influential player in the Mexican Revolution before his eventual death, resulting from an ambush.

The 10-hour series, produced with Mexico’s BTF, will film on location across Mexico, in many places made famous through Villa’s exploits.

Looking to shed a light on lesser-known parts of Villa’s life, the series will take a multi-layered look at his historical legacy, his interpersonal contradictions and his life before becoming a revolutionary. Described in a press release as: “cruel, a womanizer, charismatic and ideological,” Villa is reviled by some and revered by many.

“Centauro del Norte” continues the noteworthy commitment shown by Buena Vista to bioseries, or true-life crime series, which has seen Leonardo Aranguibel, now BVOP head of general entertainment productions, spearhead high-profile hits from the ground breaking “Hasta que te conocí,” “Selena’s Secret” – both produced with Mexico’s BTF Media, founding a partnership now reprised in “Centauro” – and the recent “Monzón,” a smash success in Argentina and winner of the best series Produ Award at November’s Mip Cancun.

Recently announced take in “Santa Evita,” about the extraordinary power exercised by Eva Perón, even after death, and “Mariposas,” set in 1950’s Dominican Republic and focusing on political activist Arantxa Garmendia. Also in the pipeline is “Femicidios,” one of the most ambitious drama series project ever in Latin America, portraying episodic, true-life stories of infamous cases of fatal gender violence in four countries in Latin America.

John Hopewell contributed to this article.