TVREAL
London-based Dogwoof and Toronto-based Visitor Media have partnered to develop Snow King: From Olympian to Narco, in association with Canada’s CBC, New York’s Rolling Stone Films and Mexico City-based La Corriente del Golfo.
The series, which draws from the investigative reporting of Rolling Stone and the Toronto Star, charts the journey of Ryan Wedding, a former Olympic snowboarder who is now one of the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted fugitives, accused of running a violent, billion-dollar drug empire for Mexico’s most notorious cartel. The Department of State is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to his arrest and/or conviction.
Wedding is wanted by the FBI for multiple charges, including orchestrating the murders of four people in Ontario, Canada.
Since January, the team of filmmakers has been filming across Canada, Mexico and the U.S., working alongside expert journalists and investigators—such as Rolling Stone’s Jesse Hyde, the Toronto Star’s Calvi Leon and operatives in Mexico—and current and former FBI agents and law enforcement officials.
As the hunt for Wedding escalates, the docuseries incorporates firsthand accounts from the people whose lives have been irrevocably damaged by the crimes he and his co-conspirators have been charged with.
Nico Wasserman, a senior development executive at Dogwoof, initially developed the project and is an executive producer. Dogwoof CEO Anna Godas and Visitor Media President Sean O’Neill are producers. Additional executive producers are Gus Wenner, CEO of Rolling Stone; Jason Fine, senior VP of Rolling Stone Films; journalist Jesse Hyde; and La Corriente del Golfo’s Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna.
The project is the first in a multiyear development partnership between Dogwoof and Visitor Media, formed following the success of the 2024 documentary feature and CBC series Swan Song.
“When we first came across the story last year, we instantly knew it could become an incredible series that elevates the true-crime genre by going deeper into what drives people to make certain choices, much like Breaking Bad,” Dogwoof’s Godas said. “I also knew Sean O’Neill was the right person to develop this with, as he’s truly aligned to Dogwoof’s taste and ethos, and we had a great experience with Swan Song.”
“This story is epic in scope, with shocking turns and devastating impacts,” Visitor’s O’Neill commented. “I’m thrilled to collaborate with Dogwoof, the CBC and our extraordinary partners at Rolling Stone and La Corriente del Golfo to create a series that’s as cinematically vital and thematically rich as it is propulsive and engrossing to watch.”
“For more than a decade, Rolling Stone has been tracking the saga of Ryan Wedding,” noted Rolling Stone Films’ Fine. “We are thrilled to partner with this incredible team to delve deeper and bring to screen this sensational story at the intersection of sports and crime.”
Jennifer Dettman, executive director of unscripted content at CBC, added, “Snow King will offer crucial insights into a stranger-than-fiction Canadian story that will no doubt capture the attention of audiences across the country and around the world. We look forward to working with our recent Swan Song partners Dogwoof and Visitor Media to bring this unbelievable personal journey to the screen.”
