Sofia Vergara Reuniting With Netflix’s Griselda Creator for New Series

Sofia Vergara had a successful run as the titular drug lord in Netflix’s Griselda, and she may soon reunite with series co-creator Eric Newman for another project. During a recent interview with Variety, while discussing the process of creating Griselda, Vergara and Newman, who also served as the showrunner and executive producer for Griselda, opened up about a possible future collaboration. If the project comes to fruition, it sounds like we’d see Vergara back in a comedic role, and for fans of Modern Family, that’s an exciting prospect. While the two don’t disclose much about the series, Newman shared:

“It’s about a strong, funny, vulnerable woman in the center of a lot of sh*t.”

And it does have something in common with Griselda:

“I’ll also say that it takes place in Miami,” Newman added.

Vergara is off the heels of a critically lauded performance in Griselda. Directed by Andrés Baiz, the biographical drama miniseries follows the real-life Griselda Blanco, who, while fleeing from Medellín to Miami, creates one of the most ruthless cartels in history. Blanco became known as the Godmother of Cocaine for her part in Miami’s drug underworld during the 1980s. Vergara’s take on Blanco (which required hours of prosthetics work) earned her an Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Emmy nomination. The Emmys, which air on Sunday, September 15, will see Vergara face off against Brie Larson for Lessons in Chemistry, Naomi Watts for Feud: Capote vs. The Swans, Jodie Foster for True Detective: Night Country, and Juno Temple for Fargo, for the coveted award.

Griselda Continued Vergara’s TV Success Story

Becoming Griselda Blanco was a shift for Vergara, who was best known for her work in comedy. Not only that, Vergara has a negative personal connection to the heinous crimes of cartels, as her brother was murdered by a Colombian cartel in 1996.

“It destroyed my family. It destroyed my mom. It changed our lives completely. We didn’t know what was happening, why he had been killed.”

But that didn’t dissuade her. Years after her brother’s murder, Vergara saw Billy Corben’s Cocaine Cowboys: The Kings of Miami docuseries, which featured Blanco. It was then that Vergara realized that she wanted to play Blanco but knew it would not be safe to take on the role as Blanco was living as a free woman in Colombia. In 2015 (three years after Blanco was assassinated in Medellin), Vergara reached out to Newman after watching the first episode of Narcos. Newman, who served as an executive producer and writer for the crime drama, had a meeting with Vergara. It took time, but Griselda premiered on Netflix on January 25, 2024.

Related

10 Best Sofía Vergara Performances, Ranked

While you may know Vergara for her role in Modern Family, here are her best performances.

Before there was Griselda, however, there was Gloria. Vergara’s portrayal of the Modern Family character earned her four Emmy Award nominations, introduced her to a larger audience, and solidified her as a powerful force in the comedy genre. According to Vergara, she’d love to step back into Gloria’s shoes:

“I’d die to be on that set. It’d be so much fun. A TV movie maybe?”

Vergara’s Gloria was married to Ed O’Neill’s Jay, who most recently starred in FX’s Clipped as disgraced former L.A. Clippers owner Donald Sterling. Vergara jokingly shares that she told the Married… With Children actor that he looks “f—ing old:”

“I always joke with him. ‘Ed, don’t die. Because if we do the sequel, it will take some time, and you’re the oldest of us. You can’t be dead!'”