‘Narcos’ breakout star weighs in on family, friendship and the ties that bind

Matias Varela (left) and Taliana Vargas in “Narcos”

COLOMBIA—Given his high-profile appearances in “Narcos,” “Game of Thrones,” “Kingsman: The Golden Circle” and “The Equalizer 2,” Pedro Pascal may be the most “familiar” face in the third season of “Narcos.” But, the 42-year-old actor is by no means the only actor in its cast who delivers a compelling performance.

In fact, in our book, it’s Matias Varela, in the complex role of the Cali Cartel’s beleaguered head of security Jorge Salcedo, who turns in the show’s most textured portrayal.

“Narcos’” S3, which shifts its focus from Pablo Escobar’s Medellin Cartel to the Cali Cartel, is graced by a formidable Spanish-speaking cast that includes Mexicans (Damian Alcazar, Jose Maria Yazpik), Colombians (Miss Universe 2008 runner-up Taliana Vargas, Juan Pablo Shuk), Spanish (Miguel Angel Silvestre, Javier Camara), a Venezuelan (Francisco Denis), an Argentine (Alberto Ammann), a Guatemalan (Arturo Castro), a Portuguese (Pepe Rapazote), a New Zealander (Matt Whelan), an American (Michael Stahl-David) and a Chileño (Pascal). (Wagner Moura, who portrayed Pablo Escobar to great acclaim in the first two seasons, is Brazilian.)

So, you can imagine how thrilled we were to meet most of them when we flew to Bogota, Colombia, late last month to attend the world premiere of the show’s latest season. Even better, we got to chat with the eloquent but soft-spoken Matias.

As Jorge Salcedo, the Cali Cartel’s head of security

Our Q&A with Matias:

I love the complexity and degree of difficulty presented by your character, who’s torn between doing his job well and keeping his family safe. He’s scary one minute, and vulnerable the next, but his motivations are clearly limned. How did you pull off that thespic balancing act? It isn’t easy to be good and bad at the same time, but [that’s part of human nature]. At times, it was difficult to navigate the emotional highs and lows of my character—especially in instances where, in one day, I had to do “happy,” wholesome scenes with my family one moment, followed by “heavy” sequences in the cartel, where bad stuff happens all the time.

It can make an actor “schizophrenic,” in a sense (laughs). I understood Jorge because I was immersed in the difficult situation he was in.

Knowing what your character went through in Season 3, would you betray your friends to protect your family? That’s a hard question to answer. At the end of the day, Jorge had to pay for the consequences of his actions.

Playing him had me thinking the same thing. You see, he was an educated man—a scholar, even—but, apparently, the simple life he had led prior to his affiliation with the cartel wasn’t enough for him.

But, Jorge made a conscious decision to enter that violent underworld—and that, instantly, makes his character questionable. Is he a good man? He probably is but, at the same time, he chose to work with these people, even if he didn’t have to.

But, for me, what was most fascinating to work with was the fact that Jorge had to shuttle between the level of stress at work and his feelings of guilt, because he was telling his wife (Taliana Vargas) one thing and doing something else. In order to keep his family safe, he had to become someone he didn’t want to be.

If you ask me if this is something I can relate to, that’s a big moral question. As you know, he ended up hurting his friend, who was starting to rat on him, to protect his family. The guilt is huge. I myself have a family … a child … and, this much I know, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for him.

Would you take the same risks Jorge did? That’s another complicated question. Jorge is very brave. With the support of his wife Paola (Vargas), he went against the entire cartel, which entailed a lot of risks.

Midway through the season, Jorge didn’t care anymore about himself, because he knew he was going to die, anyway. But, not being able to tell his wife that he would most likely end up dead was a huge burden for him, too.

So, he focused on trying to get Paola and their young kids out of Colombia. In the beginning, he had this naive notion that he could get away with it, then he realized that that wasn’t going to happen.

So, the only thing he could do was try to save his family and, along the way, bring down the cartel. Unfortunately, he also knew that the ultimate price for that could be his death.

Why was David, the son of one of the cartel’s leaders, consistently suspicious of Jorge’s actions despite his loyalty and reliability? He was antagonistic towards Jorge because of two things: First, there’s a certain type of bond that emerges between Jorge and David’s father, Miguel—and that makes David jealous.

We all want our mother or father’s attention, and David feels a little neglected by his dad, especially seeing that this man who was coming into his father’s life was filling the shoes he had wanted for himself. More than anything, he wants his father’s attention—and Jorge was getting in the way!