The Lord of the Skies’ Luis Zelkowicz

Telemundo’s prime-time series The Lord of the Skies (El Señor de los Cielos), currently in its third season, chronicles the saga of prominent Mexican drug lord Aurelio Casillas. In the show’s latest run, Casillas is being held in a high-security prison guarded by the Mexican Navy, where he endures harsh tortures while plotting his escape.

The Casillas character—based on a real-life drug kingpin nicknamed “The Lord of the Skies” for his use of aircraft to deliver his product—took shape in the mind of Venezuelan writer Luis Zelkowicz after years of research and interviews. Telemundo Internacional has already delivered the first two seasons to channels around the globe. The series last year received the first International Emmy for non-English-language U.S. prime-time program. The Lord of the Skies has also been renewed for a fourth season.

In this interview with TV Drama Weekly, Zelkowicz, who also penned the telenovela Maid in Manhattan (Una Maid en Manhattan), discusses the origins of the series and how its success is helping to raise the bar for Latin American programming.

TV DRAMA: The third season of The Lord of the Skies, which you wrote, was recently released. How did the idea to bring this story to Telemundo come about?
ZELKOWICZ: “The Lord of the Skies” was a real character. I had already been working with a team for many years [to produce] a telenovela in Mexico that would feature [his story]. This character [is part] of Mexico’s criminal history, of Mexico’s drug-trafficking history.

TV DRAMA: Were you surprised by the success of the series?
ZELKOWICZ: Actually, from the beginning I knew I had something good on my hands, but I never imagined that audiences would embrace it so well. This success was due to a combination of several factors. There was good research on the one hand, a very good script, great work from casting, plus a very good job from the production and directing sides. So, all of that combined is what turned The Lord of the Skies into an attractive proposition for audiences. Of course, I never imagined it would turn out so successful, and that has been a pleasant surprise. That [gave] us the steam to continue working on a second and third season.

TV DRAMA: How have the story and the main character, Aurelio Casillas, evolved in the first two seasons? What can you tell us about season three?
ZELKOWICZ: The interesting thing about Aurelio Casillas, about his entire family and the Casillas universe we developed for the series, is that it’s all embedded within a real Mexican context. As we saw in the first and second season, Aurelio Casillas becomes involved in real events that occurred in Mexico, and that turns him into a phenomenon that contributes to the legend of “The Lord of the Skies” character. When they’re watching this series, people have the feeling that what they are seeing really happened, and somewhat this is true because we’ve taken many [events] from real life. [In the third season], we’ll see many more of Aurelio Casillas’ adventures in his criminal world, where he makes somewhat surprising alliances. Villains have always been appealing to audiences. And for us, our protagonists are great villains.

TV DRAMA: Last November, The Lord of the Skies received the first International Emmy for best non-English-language U.S. prime-time program. What does this milestone mean for you as a writer, for the Telemundo team and also for the new season of The Lord of the Skies?
ZELKOWICZ: Of course, it’s very emotional having received that award, and it has shown us many things. For one, that we’re on the right track with what we are doing and that the public is rewarding us for it. And not only the Latino audience—there is also an American audience that is watching Latino programs, and that fills us with satisfaction and demands much more of us. We know we have to continue on this same path, that we have new challenges and, increasingly, that we need to reach the same level as American productions. [This award means two things at once:] emotion and a big challenge.