NARCOS: MEXICO

STARRING: Diego Luna

Acclaimed series Narcos ventures south of the border for a spin-off, in which Luna is Felix, a charismatic and gutsy former cop whose horticulturist genius of a brother has come up with a superior strain of dope. The pair just have to figure out how to stay alive long enough to establish an empire. In their way: rival gangs, the Mexican army and Kiki (Michael Peña), a gung-ho American DEA agent. (On Netflix from Fri., Nov. 16)

As high-concept drama series go, the premise of Nine’s Manifest (airs Wed., Nov. 21 at 8.30pm) is a doozy – a plane that went missing in 2013 suddenly reappears five-and-a-half years later in 2018 with none of the people onboard having aged at all. Where has Montego Air Flight 828 been all this time, and why are the passengers and crew hearing voices? Josh Dallas, 39, and Melissa Roxburgh, 25, who play siblings Ben and Michaela Stone, weigh in on the mystery.

Can you imagine what it would actually be like for someone from 2013 to suddenly find themselves in the craziness that is 2018?

DALLAS What’s going on with the world? Why are there celebrities in the White House and Buckingham Palace? Get me a room that has padded walls and let me go into foetal position in the corner. ROXBURGH It’s such a tricky topic in terms of the politics. As we can see from the results of the [US mid-term] elections, there are such mixed feelings towards it that nobody really wants to talk about it on our show.

What do you think happened to the plane?

DALLAS There are so many different possibilities – it could be anything from aliens to a fluke of physics to string theory to God. Right now, I don’t know what it is. ROXBURGH If I was to give my best guess or what I wish would have happened, it would be really cool to see that it was a government-orchestrated event that they’re now trying to cover up. That would be interesting for me.

Are you prepared to wait to find out with the audience or do you try to get answers out of creator Jeff Rake?

ROXBURGH When we started, Josh and I were on the same page and wanted to go along finding things out with the characters. That lasted for me for about five episodes and I was like, “Enough, I want to know what happened.” I’ve been bugging the showrunners about what happens and where each storyline goes. DALLAS Melissa is always trying to get some information out of Mr Rake, and tries to get him at his most vulnerable moments. ROXBURGH It’s funny, we were at Fan Expo in Toronto and Jeff was exhausted, and I found that was the perfect time to ask him and he

accidentally slipped some information to me. DALLAS I want to stay as in the dark as Ben is and discover along with him and the audience.

Shows like Manifest are tricky – you want to keep people guessing but you don’t want them to get fed up not getting answers. Apparently Jeff has a six-year plan…

ROXBURGH I kind of know where Season 1 ends, and I don’t know that Jeff is going to wait six years to reveal what the big mystery is. But stuff will come from that revelation, whenever it happens, that will keep the audience hooked. You will almost forget about what happened to the plane because there are so many little mysteries in the midst of that and you’ll get caught up with them as well. I don’t think the audience will tune out before the six-year mark. DALLAS Thankfully, I’m not the one at the helm, but as we go forward, the mystery is going to keep unravelling. Episode 7 has more answers and Episode 8 has more, but just because there are answers doesn’t mean there aren’t more questions.

Ben and Michaela’s sibling relationship is one we don’t see on TV that often. Have you two developed a brother-sister-type rapport?

DALLAS Working with Melissa is the best. Not only is she a lovely person but she’s a skilled and talented actress, so it’s always a good day at work when I have scenes with her. ROXBURGH Josh is such an awesome person, not only to work with but away from set – and I don’t know if he signed up for this – he has become like my older brother off-screen. It’s really easy to get along with him.

So there’s no squabbling like siblings?

DALLAS We never squabble! ROXBURGH No we haven’t had a fight yet. He has more experience than me in Hollywood, so I definitely pick his brain in what to do and what not to do, and sometimes he says to me, “Don’t you dare do that!” DALLAS I try to give her the best advice I can. ROXBURGH I’ve also picked his brain on personal stuff, like, “I’ve just done this. Was that a mistake?” and he answers, “Yes, that was really stupid, you should not have done that.”

So he’s giving you love-life advice?

ROXBURGH Something like that. [ Laughs.] I’m really grateful I’ve got him to help me out.

Narcos: Mexico was originally intended as the fourth season of the original series before the decision was made to shift the storytelling.

“Ben is like a dog with a bone,” Dallas says. “He is on this quest to find answers and will not give up.” “She feels like the sister I never had,” Dallas says of his relationship with Roxburgh.