The Best Colombian Shows on Netflix US in 2022
Are you wondering what the best Colombian shows on Netflix are? Colombia produces quite a lot of quality media, and it can be hard to know where to begin.
Paula and I love watching Colombian series, and I’ve put together a list of my top 6 Colombian series on Netflix. (Spoiler: none of them have anything to do with Pablo Escobar.)
At the time of writing, all of these are available on Netflix in the US, and probably in other regions as well. (We don’t usually watch TV series on Amazon Prime or other streaming services, so I’m focusing on Netflix Colombian series.)
Now without further ado, I present to you Scott from Colombia and Beyond‘s list of the 6 best Colombian shows on Netflix US.
My Top 6 Colombian Shows on Netflix US
6. Always a Witch (2019) – Fantasy/Drama
Siempre Bruja is a guilty pleasure of mine. Its target demographic appears to be teenage girls, which doesn’t apply to me or Paula. However, Paula is into witchy things and was thus pretty amped up to watch it.
I decided to watch it with her, thinking that it would at least be good for learning more Colombian Spanish. And to my surprise, I ended up getting hooked on it.
Now don’t get me wrong, it’s cheesy as all hell. But in spite of that, it’s just entertaining.
Plot Summary:
In Cartagena in the year 1646, Carmen Eguiluz (Angely Gaviria), who is a young witch and a slave, is accused of witchcraft. Sentenced to be burned at the stake by the Spanish Inquisition, she makes a deal with a wizard named Aldemar.
He’ll send her into the future, where she will have to kill a dark wizard named Lucien. By doing so, she can save the life of her beloved Crístobal, a young Spaniard who just so happens to be the son of her enslavers. (Problematic? Definitely.)
Just as she is about to be burned, she time-travels to 2019. She finds herself in a Cartagena that’s almost unrecognizable to her. There’s strange technology like cars and smartphones, and she gets to experience life as a free woman.
Now she must learn to adapt and fit into the modern world, while avoiding using magic and drawing unwanted attention to herself, if she wants to save Crístobal and return to her own time.
🍿 Watch Siempre Bruja on Netflix
5. The Queen of Flow (2018) – Telenovela/Drama/Musical
Number 5 in my list of best Colombian TV shows on Netflix is also a guilty pleasure. I’m not, in general, a fan of reggaeton. And that musical genre plays a heavy role in this series. I began watching the first season because Paula loved it.
And surprise, surprise. I was hooked. It’s a great Colombian telenovela with the right elements to keep you wanting more.
Plot Summary:
(MILD SPOILER ALERT – but nothing more than what’s in the above trailer. In fact, a little less. Still, if you don’t want to know anything about the story, skip ahead to the next show.)
The story of the first season revolves around Yeimy Montoya. She’s a 17-year-old from a lower-class neighborhood of Medellín who is a talented singer/songwriter.
Her friend Carlos Cruz, who she’s secretly in love with, is an aspiring reggaeton singer. He’s not a natural songwriter, though, so he invites Yeimy to join his group.
Meanwhile, Carlos’ uncle Manín is a powerful gangster and drug trafficker who kills Yeimy’s parents for failing to pay him protection bribes. He also has Carlos working for him, participating in crimes, one of which is witnessed by Yeimy.
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Carlos then seduces Yeimy so that she won’t turn him in, and in the process gets his hands on her notebook with all of her lyrics. Then, in order to keep Manín from killing her, he arranges a plan to frame Yeimy for international cocaine smuggling, which lands her a 25-year prison sentence.
During that time, Carlos becomes “Charly Flow,” using Yeimy’s lyrics to become a famous reggaeton singer. Meanwhile, Yeimy, aware of Charly’s betrayal, only dreams of getting revenge.
After 17 years in prison, Yeimy strikes a deal to go undercover for the DEA and help them catch Manín in exchange for an early release. She also plans to get close to Charly and exact her revenge.
So much more happens than what I’ve written here. It’s a highly entertaining story that’s definitely worth watching to find out how everything turns out.
🍿 Watch La Reina del Flow on Netflix
4. Juanpis González: the Series (2022) – Comedy/Satire
Juanpis González is a character created by actor/comedian Alejandro Riaño in the late 2010s. He became the host of an internet talk show, the Juanpis Live Show, where Riaño (always in character) interviews Colombian politicians, actors, musicans, and others, typically making fun of them while drinking and smoking cigars.
A satire of Colombia’s highest class, the Bogotano Juanpis is a representation of everything that we shouldn’t be, according to his creator. He’s uber rich, spoiled, entitled, elitist, and racist.
Or, to put it in the simple terms that Riaño put it when I met him prior to the taping of his show, “he’s basically a Hitler.”
The Juanpis Live Show found considerable success in Colombia and other parts of Latin America. Thus, Riaño was able to create item number 4 on my list of top Colombian shows on Netflix, titled Juanpis González: La Serie.
Plot Summary, briefly:
After a public scandal that goes viral, Juanpis must clean up his tarnished public image and learn how to run the family business in order to prove to the board of directors that he’s capable of inheriting it.
This proves no easy feat.
It’s a smart and funny satirical show that criticizes many aspects of Colombian society and politics, even lampooning current events of its time. To fully appreciate it requires an understanding of those. I had to have Paula explain some of the references that went over my head.
Nonetheless, many of the social commentaries (e.g. corruption, classism, xenophobia) are applicable to other countries as well. You can still enjoy the show even without that intimate knowledge of the workings of Colombian society.
🍿 Watch Juanpis González: La Serie on Netflix
3. Newly Rich, Newly Poor (2007) – Telenovela/Comedy
My number 3 Netflix Colombian series, Nuevo Rico, Nuevo Pobre is a hilarious and, at times, heartwarming story. Much like the character of Juanpis González, it’s a commentary on certain aspects of Colombian society.
It looks at socioeconomic inequality, the low social mobility that is the result of said inequality, and the advantages and disadvantages of growing up wealthy or poor, among others. And it does so with humor and without being preachy.
Plot Summary:
Nuevo Rico, Nuevo Pobre is the story of two families, one rich and the other poor. The mothers in both families wind up giving birth in the same hospital at the same time. Their baby boys are switched at birth by a nurse with a drinking problem.
Andrés is raised by the wealthy family, gets the best international education, and becomes the owner of their successful shipping company, Mundo Express. He’s a workaholic, cares for little more than money, and has no real relationships of quality.
Brayan, on the other hand, is raised by the poor family. He resents his poverty, but he is also lazy and makes little effort to change his situation.
Thirty years after their birth, while on her death bed, the nurse who switched them confesses her mistake to Antonia, the mother of Andrés. This leads to the two men being reunited with their biological families.
They’re also pulled out of their old, familiar lives. Andrés, much to his horror, loses everything: his wealth, his executive position, his mansion and car, even his gold-digging girlfriend. Brayan, too, is ripped away from his old life, only he couldn’t be happier about it.
What follows is the struggle of Andrés and Brayan to adapt to their new lifestyles. Can Andrés learn to be humble, to appreciate what it’s like to have little money, and maybe make something of himself again?
Will Brayan learn how to be responsible, and will he have what it takes to be the head of a company? Or will he run it into the ground? Watch and see for yourself!
🍿 Watch Nuevo Rico, Nuevo Pobre on Netflix
2. The Good Bandit (2019) – Telenovela/Comedy
Coming in at number 2, we have Un Bandido Honrado. If you’re a sucker for a good redemption arc like I am, then this Colombian series on Netflix has your name on it. It will deliver that redemption, along with lots of laughs.
Plot Summary:
It’s the story of Emilio “El Crespo” Ortega, the head of a drug trafficking organization. He’s not the nicest guy you could meet, nor is he a model husband and father.
He goes to prison for 5 years… sort of. It’s more like being on house arrest in a country club.
While there, he suffers a head injury while playing soccer. Unconscious, he has a vision of Saint Jude (a beer drinking, chicharrón eating, sarcastic Saint Jude who talks and acts like a typical paisa from Medellín).
His mystical experience leads to him renouncing his former lifestyle, vowing to become a good, ethical man.
When he gets out of prison, he starts trying to turn his life around, and this proves much more difficult than he realized. That’s actually part of what I love so much about this series:
New beginnings don’t always come effortlessly
This series shows how the path from an unethical life to an ethical one is, paradoxically, a simple and instantaneous decision as well as a difficult and gradual change. Ortega inevitably has to deal with the numerous consequences of his former life.
These include his distrusting wife (played by Carolina Acevedo, who had previously starred in Nuevo Rico, Nuevo Pobre).
There’s his teenage son who wants to emulate his father’s former life of crime.
Ortega’s closest friends/employees, unhappy with their sudden lack of income, continue trying to involve him in more illicit business opportunities.
He’s also plagued by obsessed former mistresses who repeatedly try to seduce him and an equally obsessed detective who wants to put him back behind bars. (The latter is played by Andrés Toro, also from Nuevo Rico.)
These obstacles exemplify how the decision to turn around one’s life is not a one-time choice. One has to be determined and continue to make the choice from moment to moment, day after day.
🍿 Watch Un Bandido Honrado on Netflix
And now we come to the number 1 series on my list of the top 6 Colombian shows on Netflix in the US.
1. La Niña (2016)
Well, dear readers, this one’s heavy. It deals with the depressing topic of child soldiers. But La Niña is arguably one of the most important series about Colombia that you will ever see.
It’s based on a true story. It’s also dedicated to the countless other children who have lived similar stories.
Plot Summary:
Belky is a young girl growing up in rural Colombia. One day, guerrilla militants come to take her brother away. She loves him so much that she volunteers to take his place.
Thus begins her life with the guerrillas. She’s forced into combat, placing landmines, attacking innocent villages, extorting people. For more than 5 years, she lives through unspeakably awful experiences.
One day, Belky gets the opportunity to escape this tragic life, but the road ahead will be difficult. She reunites with her family, but they no longer know each other. Reintegrating into a society that’s totally foreign to her will bring constant challenges as well.
Belky wants to go to school and become a doctor. But she’ll have to avoid being found by the guerrillas, who want her back. She’ll also struggle with the question of whether to reveal her past to people who may reject and demonize her, or whether to keep it bottled up.
La Niña is Belky’s story. At its worst, it can make you tremendously sad or full of rage. But at its best, it’s also a heartwarming tale of hope that I consider the finest Colombian tv show on Netflix.
A recommendation
One thing, though: if you plan to watch this one and my number 2 choice, Un Bandido Honrado (which you should), I strongly recommend watching La Niña first. And not only because it’s my top choice.
It’s also because Diego Vásquez plays a major role in both series. In Un Bandido Honrado, he’s very lovable. But in La Niña, he is vile, and you will undoubtedly hate him.
(Vásquez himself has stated that his role in La Niña was difficult for him, psychologically and morally. He said he wouldn’t like to do anymore roles like it.)
So after seeing him here, Un Bandido Honrado will redeem Vásquez for you. And who knows? Maybe that’s why he took on the role after his work on La Niña.
Still, whatever order you choose, be sure to watch both.
That Wraps Up My List of Best Colombian Shows on Netflix
And there you have it. You were wondering about the best Colombian shows on Netflix, and I’ve given you my top 6 choices.
Obviously, it’s very subjective and your opinions may differ from mine. And that’s ok. But hopefully my descriptions, as well as the trailers, have helped you pick at least one new series to watch.
Happy watching!
Have you seen any of these? Did you like them? What are your top choices?
Email me and tell me your thoughts.