Netflix Sets Police Helicopter Thriller Helo With Narcos Director Andrés Baiz
Netflix is developing Helo, a police helicopter action thriller with Andrés Baiz set to direct, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter on 25 September 2026.
The project is being made as a feature for the streaming service. The pitch is short. Cops in the air.
It is described in that report as “End of Watch meets Top Gun,” a shorthand that pairs ground-level police work with high-speed flying action. It aims for a fresh take on police aviation, an angle not explored in a feature since Blue Thunder, the 1983 thriller starring Roy Scheider and directed by John Badham, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Helo focuses on police helicopter work in a modern city.
Edward Berger is producing through Nine Hours, his production company, with partner Luke Rivett, The Hollywood Reporter reported. Berger and Rivett brought the concept to Netflix executives. Patrick Aison, known for work on the recent live-action Predator movies, was enlisted to write the script.
Baiz arrives with a long record at Netflix. He directed key episodes of the crime series Narcos and Narcos: Mexico, directed the full run of Griselda, the crime miniseries starring Sofia Vergara as Griselda Blanco, and directed episodes of the streamer’s adaptation of The Sandman, according to The Hollywood Reporter. He recently wrapped production on Fight for 84, a sports drama starring Jamie Foxx.
His ties to the Narcos world run deep. Baiz served as an executive producer on Narcos: Mexico alongside José Padilha, Doug Miro and Carlo Bernard, Deadline reported in 2018. That series closed with its third season, a 10-episode run set in the 1990s as the drug business globalises, Deadline reported. Baiz directed on that final season alongside Alejandra Márquez, Luis Ortega and Amat Escalante, Deadline reported. He was also previously attached to direct Panopticon, a thriller for Scott Free and AGC based on a Black List script by Emily Jerome, Deadline reported in 2020. The Black List, in industry terms, is a survey that tracks popular unproduced screenplays.
Berger is the filmmaker behind All Quiet on the Western Front and Conclave, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Baiz is represented by CAA, Management 360 and Hansen Jacobson.
What makes this stand out is the vehicle at the centre. Most police stories stay on the street. Helo moves the chase upstairs, with a crew watching from above and arriving first.
