EXCLUSIVE: BET Media Group is developing the unscripted series The Twins from Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson’s G-Unit Film & Television and Lionsgate’s Pilgrim Media Group.
The series centers around the Flores brothers, Margarito and Pedro, identical twins who became multi-millionaire, cocaine kingpins by the age of 18 and who would eventually assist in the capture and take-down of drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
The Twins will serve as a companion to the award-winning podcast Surviving El Chapo: The Twins Who Brought Down A Drug Lord, which was produced by Lionsgate Sound and G-Unit Audio, and recently released a second season.
Following their arrest, Margarito and Pedro Flores turned their backs on their lucrative drug operation and cooperated with the DEA in exchange for more lenient sentences. Both served 14 years in prison before being released in 2022 to the witness protection program. Margarito Flores continues to walk on the right side of the law. Earlier this year, he led the seminar, “From Kingpin to Educator,” a one-day event for law enforcement held in Kane County, Illinois, where he shared insider information on how to catch other traffickers. Updates on Pedro Flores are unavailable. El Chapo is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole in a Colorado supermax prison.
The Twins is the latest project from G-Unit Film & Television and follows Deadline’s exclusive announcement of Jackson’s collaboration with Chris Albrecht and Jorge Granier of Rubicon Global Media on the new bilingual crime drama series Prey Before You Eat (w/t). Earlier this year, we revealed multiple other projects were in the works including the unscripted tattoo transformation series Redemption Ink with Hulu, the animated series Lady Danger in collaboration with Nicki Minaj for Amazon’s Freevee and Vice City (w/t) with Lionsgate Television and Paramount Television Studios.
Closing up a year that began with the signing of G-Unit Film & Television’s non-exclusive broadcast deal with Fox, all his current Starz offerings—Power franchise series Ghost, Raising Kanan and Force; as well as BMF— continue to be rating juggernauts for the network and beloved by fans. Jackson is repped by IAG and attorney Stephen Savva.
Pilgrim Media Group, a Lionsgate company headed by Emmy and Peabody Award-winning producer Craig Piligian, focuses on unscripted television. With 21 series across a dozen networks, Pilgrim Media Group has expanded several shows into successful franchises including Wicked Tuna with four spin-offs, Ghost Hunters with five and Street Outlaws with 16. Pilgrim Media Group is also a minority owner in the studio’s award-winning podcast division Lionsgate Sound, which produced Scamanda – the top new podcast of 2023 and the most-shared show on Apple Podcasts.
