With Narcos: Mexico season 3 now streaming on Netflix, I recently sat down with Scoot McNairy and Luis Gerardo Méndez about the final season of the series. During the interview, they talked about what the season is about, what they were both told about their characters when they joined the cast, how Méndez had to put on 25 pounds for what was supposed to be six months but then COVID happened so he had to keep it for well over a year, if they have a new perspective on the drug war after making the series, and more.

If you haven’t seen the trailers for Narcos: Mexico season 3, the new season is set in the 90s, when the globalization of the drug business had taken hold. With Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo’s (Diego Luna) arrest, everything is up for grabs, with independent cartels going after the power players. Joining the cast for the first time are Luis Gerardo Méndez as Victor Tapia, a police officer mystified by a series of brutal killings despite his calling; Alberto Guerra as Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, a drug trafficker who does not look like much, but is far deadlier than meets the eye; and Luisa Rubino as Andrea Nuñez, a young journalist out to expose corruption who may end up biting off more than she can chew. The series also stars Jose Maria Yazpik, Alfonso Dosal, Mayra Hermosillo, Matt Letscher, Manuel Masalva, Alejandro Edda, Gorka Lasaosa, and musician Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, better known as Bad Bunny, playing the role of Arturo “Kitty” Paez, a member of Ramon Arellano Felix’s gang called the “Narco Juniors” – a group of rich, upper class kids whose connections serve the cartel life well.

RELATED: ‘Narcos: Mexico Season 3’: Co-Creator Carlo Bernard and Jose Maria Yazpik on Why This Was the Perfect Place to End the Series

Watch what Scoot McNairy and Luis Gerardo Méndez had to say in the player above and below is exactly what we talked about.

Scoot McNairy and Luis Gerardo Méndez

• How much did McNairy know about his character’s journey when he first signed on?
• Did Méndez have any idea of his character’s arc when he got involved or did he sign on without worrying because it was Narcos?
• How Méndez had to put on 25 pounds for what was supposed to be six months but then COVID happened so it was over a year.
• Méndez talks about why the storyline his character deals with in Season 3 is so important to tell.
• What is it like to play people that are obsessed for months at a time?
• How have they been describing Season 3?
• Do they have a new perspective on the drug war after making the series?