FX Networks has announced that it has snapped up the rights to Don Winslow’s acclaimed Cartel Trilogy which it is developing as a TV series with Shane Salerno (Armageddon) scripting.
The three books – The Power of the Dog, The Cartel and The Border – follow a DEA agent, Art Keller, on a harrowing 45-year journey through America’s longest-running war: the War on Drugs. Shocking in its brutality, raw in its humanity – it portrays Mexican cartel power struggles, the narcos and cops on both sides of the border, the traffickers and drug mules, lawyers, journalists, junkies, teenage hitmen, children seeking asylum, and political corruption from poppy fields in Mexico to the White House.
“I have known and respected Shane Salerno and Don Winslow for almost 20 years, and am beyond thrilled to be working with them again on the series adaptation of Don’s magnum opus – the trilogy made up of his three critically beloved and commercially successful novels,” said John Landgraf, CEO of FX Networks and FX Productions. “Don has masterfully woven his intricately detailed research into cartel’s and America’s war on drugs into what is widely regarded as one of the great crime epics of all time. Nothing excites the team at FX more than the daunting challenge of helping great creators make a television show as ambitious and good as the epically acclaimed books on which it will be based.”
“We have long admired the excellence that John Landgraf and his creative team have built and sustained across many years at FX, which makes them the perfect creative partner for us,” added Salerno and Winslow. “These books represent over twenty years of our lives and we care deeply about how they are adapted. We are excited to work with John and his team on what we hope will become the definitive television series on this subject matter.”
The Cartel was previously being developed as a feature film at 20th Century Fox, with Ridley Scott attached to direct from a script by Salerno. Scott remains attached to the series and will executive produce with Salerno and Winslow.
