'Ingobernable' Paints An Extreme Portrait Of A Presidential Marriage

The first season of Ingobernable will premiere on Netflix on March 24. It's the service's second Mexican-produced, Spanish-language series, after Club de Cuervos, and this new series is a thriller about the Mexican president and his family. So is President Diego Nava based on a real person? Well, to start, Ingobernable isn't really about Diego Nava, it's about his wife, Emilia Urquiza, played by Kate de Castillo, and the series has created an entirely fictional first family in order to stage the drama. Really, Ingobernable is about the search for Emilia after she becomes increasingly unsatisfied with her husband and wants to divorce him, but has to go on the run in order to protect herself and her family.

At least judging by the first season trailer, which you can watch below, it looks like there won't be very much Diego in the show at all — not only is the divorce mentioned within the first few seconds, there's also (possible spoilers ahead!) what appears to be Diego's death. It's possible that the president isn't actually assassinated and for some reason the show is faking its audience out, but regardless, the real story of Ingobernable is all about Emilia.

In real life, one small part of Ingobernable does have some slight similarities with recent Mexican history. See, Diego's angry reaction to Emilia's intention for divorce makes some sense, considering that according to the Latin Times, President Enrique Peña Nieto faced a major scandal upon mere speculation that he and wife Angélica Rivera were going to get divorced.

The drama continued in 2016 when Mexico's Aristegui reported that Rivera's first marriage was allegedly improperly annulled by a Catholic priest in order to expedite the often lengthy process and allow the future president to marry her. In a statement to The Guardian on behalf of the archdiocese of Mexico City, Father Hugo Valdemar denied the claims and said that the annulment had "followed the proper process" and didn't have any political motivations.

All of this is to say, there has been drama surrounding the real Mexican president's marriage. However, Ingobernable is taking its marital drama in a very different, much darker direction and examining the fictional, volatile relationship between Diego and Emilia.