The Gringo Hunters ending explained: Why did Joaquín kill Ortega?

The Gringo Hunters, also known as Los Gringo Hunters, is Netflix's original crime drama series, released on July 9, 2025. The Mexican series is based on an article written by Kevin Sieff that was published by The Washington Post on June 3, 2022. It follows the activities of the International Liason Unit based in Tijuana, Mexico.

Detective Nico and his team locate the positions of American fugitives in hiding and secretly extradite them. As the team investigates, they discover a corrupt system involving the primary antagonist of the show, Ortega, who is the Secretary of Security in Baja California.

Disclaimer: The following article contains spoilers for the show. Reader's discretion is advised.

The Gringo Hunters cast is led by Harold Torres, Mayra Hermosillo, Manuel Masalva, and Andrew Leland Rogers among other actors. One of the major plot points in the finale is Joaquín's assassination of Ortega.

For more than ten years, Joaquín had grieved the loss of his daughter Mariana, without knowing his faithful friend, Ortega, had staged her kidnapping as a political maneuver, and murdered her when she discovered his identity.

When Nico discovered incriminatory evidence against Ortega, Joaquín was confronted with a bitter reality. Rather than seeking legal justice, he murdered Ortega when the latter tried to kill Nico. Some viewers regard this as justifiable revenge, while others believe it is an indication of the same lawlessness Ortega represented.

Disclaimer: This article contains the subjective opinions of the writer.

---

What’s next for Nico and Joaquín in The Gringo Hunters?

A still from the show (Image via Netflix)

In The Gringo Hunters, the final phone call between Nico and Joaquín isn’t just an epilogue; it sets up a future battleground. After all the chaos, murder, and revelations, Nico receives a call from Joaquín, where the businessman makes a pointed remark stating that the two of them aren't friends.

For context, Joaquín had planned on the urban redevelopment project, Nueva Tijuana, being his legacy. Ortega and Padre Murphy were essential to making it happen, albeit only as enablers. And now, with Murphy deported and Ortega killed, Joaquín's revenue streams were evaporating while also tarnishing his image.

Meanwhile, Nico and his restored crew were regarded as local heroes, and US cooperation is increasing. But Joaquín still has strong connections with Tijuana's elite, which could be used as a wild card. Season 2 could potentially explore Joaquín's revenge plan or, conversely, his reformative measures.

Nico, meanwhile, admires Joaquín's complexity, but also doesn't trust him. Their relationship is strained, filled with grief, pride, and unresolved business, which could be the basis of the conflict in a hypothetical season 2 of The Gringo Hunters.

---

The Gringo Hunters: Could the trafficking ring extend beyond Murphy and Ortega?

While Padre Murphy and Ortega are toppled towards the end of The Gringo Hunters, various plot threads imply that the trafficking network might be more widespread and deeply entrenched than onscreen. The operation, Suenos Sin Fronteras, started as a humanitarian effort, providing sanctuary for homeless children, but was quickly tainted.

Children were "adopted" by American sponsors only to become part of so-called "parties" in which many were abused or vanished. Father Terry chronicled these crimes in a diary, which he hid in a church and was later recovered by Nico's team. The names of the trafficked children and their exploiters were allegedly listed there.

Yet the diary didn't reveal all the information. The series suggests that Murphy's safeguard was not only from inadvertent Ortega, but from figures higher in both the Mexican and American hierarchies. At a birthday party at Ortega's home, various attendees' expressions in the scene imply that they might have been clients or facilitators of the trafficking organization.

That moment also suggests that Ortega had a reason to defend Murphy for more than just local politics, potentially so he wouldn't risk blowing open a web involving foreign diplomats, local politicians, or even clergy. Despite Murphy's arrest and Ortega's assassination, no further names from the diary were publicly prosecuted.

That omission raises key questions that could be potentially explored in season 2. Were powerful individuals shielded from accountability, or will Nico's team carry on with the investigation? The show’s conclusion suggests that the uncovered information was only the beginning, and there's a larger scheme at play.

---

The Gringo Hunters is available to stream on Netflix.