Fort St Elmo was the scene of an intense confrontation involving an international drug dealer on Tuesday as hit crime drama Queen of the South wrapped up a six-day shoot in Malta.
Overseeing proceedings was Natalie Chaidez, the leading executive producer for the USA Network series, which stars Alice Braga as Teresa Mendoza, who ends up starting her own drug empire after her dealer boyfriend is murdered.
“Everything has been unbelievably professional,” Ms Chaidez told the Times of Malta. “You have top-notch crews, a great infrastructure of Maltese craftsmen, and you’re close enough to Italy that you can bring in any other people you need.”
Malta ‘plays’ itself in the up-coming third season of the show, supplanting an earlier plan to shoot the scenes in Barcelona, with the protagonist hiding out on the island after fleeing the US as a fugitive, plotting her return and ways to expand her business.
Queen of the South has drawn some comparisons to Narcos and other in-vogue ‘cartel shows’ due to its subject matter, but also stands out due to its powerful female characters in a genre often linked to male stories.
“I think Queen struck a chord and found a moment in the States with the female empowerment movement,” she said. “With Alice Braga we have a tremendously strong, believable and sympathetic lead, and her antagonist, Camilla, is equally empowered.”
You have a great infrastructure of Maltese craftsmen
Equally important to Ms Chaidez is the show’s focus on Latino storytelling, a focus which extends behind the scenes: she herself is Mexican-American, and seven of the eight writers are of Latino backgrounds.
“That’s very unusual; I think I’m the only woman of Latin descent that’s running a one-hour drama,” she said. “I do think we’re breaking some barriers. Just to be able to provide this opportunity for the cast and craftsmen is very important, and to write for a Latino character like Teresa – gritty, strong, smart, physically powerful – is quite unique right now in American television.”
Ms Chaidez believes the show is in some ways a product of its time, in that the era of ‘peak television’ has created room for shows that get a smaller audience, freeing producers from the need to appeal to everybody.
She is also excited by the way smaller countries and communities are increasingly creating their own products and selling to an international market, a trend she says Malta has an opportunity to embrace.
“There is a very supportive film commission and a strong base of film history,” she said. “If you get young filmmakers and you give them the opportunity to make their own movies, they’re going to build their own community, but you need the training and the investment. The opportunity is here, because you have tremendous resources for young filmmakers, like access to world-class stages, settings and crews.”
For fans of Queen of the South, meanwhile, Ms Chaidez says the new season will have a lot to look forward to.
“This season is all about Teresa learning to be a boss. Last season she was under someone’s thumb, and now she’s going to learn what it’s like to have power, how you gain and manage power, how you stay in control.”