This article contains spoilers for the USA Network show Queen of the South.
Queen of the South ended back in June 2021, but the beloved series had critical questions surrounding its finale, and we finally have some key insights into the why and how of it all courtesy of producer Dailyn Rodriguez (who is currently a producer and co-showrunner of Netflix’s The Lincoln Lawyer). Unlike many other crime shows, the antihero does not die at the end of Queen of the South, with Teresa (played by Alice Braga) getting a different fate. The ending was not easy, according to Rodriguez: “We really had to figure out a way to make that work.” In the end (literally) it would take an in-depth understanding of audiences, the character, the relationship between both, and the history of similar characters across movies and television. Rodriguez said:
I felt very strongly, and so did the writers on the show, that Teresa was not Walter White, Teresa was not Michael Corleone, Teresa was not the same kind of gangster. So Teresa did not deserve to die in that same way.
“So when we decided that was the case,” added Rodriguez, “that this is a person who was a victim that became a survivor, and once she became a survivor, she became empowered. She became a boss, once she sort of took control of her own life, and I didn’t feel that she deserved to be punished with death for things that she had to do.”
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Determining the fate Teresa deserved was only a small part of the challenge facing the creative team. How to do it, and how to do it in a way that didn’t betray devoted audiences’ trust, was the real massive challenge that lay awaiting them. “A lot of people were trepidatious, because of how the series started, that she was going to die. It was extremely hard to figure out a way to fake her death that felt realistic,” said Rodriguez. “The worst thing is giving someone an inauthentic ending.”
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Playing with Morality & Teresa’s Mortality
The series centers around Teresa Mendoza, a poor Mexican woman who becomes wealthy by building a vast drug empire.
What were the key reasons for sparing Teresa in this way? It came down to a sense of morality and growth. “[Teresa] realizes that the really bad guys are the ones with the badges. The ones that have all the power that are in the system — the judges, the cops, the people that have done this,” explained Rodriguez, who went on to say:
“Playing with ‘what is moral’ is something that I really love doing, and I’m glad we were able to do it. I think that for her, she struggles with that morality so much, but then she gets to this place where,
I think she realizes, if she continues, she will completely lose herself, so she has to get out
. She makes the choice that it’s done, I won’t be that person.”
The Queen of the South‘s finale was largely well-received and the insights into it are a reminder that sticking the landing is never easy after multiple seasons. There are countless examples of shows and showrunners who, despite their best intentions and incredible source material, can’t quite satisfy audiences, or worse, alienate them and leave everyone with a bad taste in their mouths.
But being intentional and focused on the things that make the characters and their world work for everyone led Rodriguez and the team to a satisfying, earned finale that put the series away without cheating anyone, especially Teresa. Queen of the South is currently streaming on Netflix. You can watch it through the link below: