Pixar’s Coco is packed with small details and Easter eggs that elevate the story and viewing experience, but it has a hidden and surprising Easter egg that is aimed at a more mature audience, and it might seem a bit odd that it was added to this story. Pixar continues to be a powerhouse in the world of entertainment, and in recent years, it has been exploring different cultures through its movies, and one of its most praised stories is Coco, released in 2017 and directed by Lee Unkrich.
Coco took the audience to Santa Cecilia, México, to meet Miguel (Anthony Gonzalez), a 12-year-old boy who dreams of becoming a musician, just like his idol Ernesto de la Cruz (Benjamin Bratt). However, due to a past conflict within the family, music has been forbidden in his family, mostly by Miguel’s Abuelita (Renée Victor). On the Day of the Dead, as the family set up their "ofrenda", Miguel makes a big discovery about his family tree, triggering an argument with his family and prompting him to break into Ernesto’s mausoleum. Once there, Miguel takes his guitar and strums it, leading him to the Land of the Dead, where he becomes trapped and must find a way back before he becomes one of the dead.
In the Land of the Dead, Miguel meets some of his ancestors, such as his great-great-grandmother Mamá Imelda (Alanna Ubach), mamá Coco’s late husband Papá Julio (Alfonso Arau), and Héctor (Gael García Bernal), who turns out to be Miguel’s great-great-grandfather who was tricked and killed by none other than Ernesto de la Cruz. The Land of the Dead is full of details related to the Mexican tradition of Día de Muertos (Day of the Dead), and it’s easy to miss some of its best Easter eggs, including one that could be referencing one of the most notorious and dangerous drug lords ever: Pablo Escobar, who might have been spotted in the Land of the Dead.
Why Coco Has A Pablo Escobar Easter Egg
When Miguel is being taken to the Land of the Dead’s border in order to take him back to the Land of the Living, the camera quickly shows the people waiting in line – some of them are bringing churros to the Land of the Living, others are bringing gifts, but there’s one particular skeleton that seems to be in the middle of a shady transaction while waiting in line. This skeleton, which is very easy to miss as the camera pans rather quickly, looks a lot like Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar, and he’s even shown discreetly handing a small package to another skeleton while both look around to make sure no one else is watching. While it’s not confirmed that this skeleton represents Pablo Escobar, his presence has been “justified” by viewers on Reddit and more by the drug smuggling routes Escobar had through México, but that still doesn’t really explain why Coco would include a Pablo Escobar Easter egg, as the Day of the Dead is a Mexican tradition and thus isn’t celebrated in Colombia.
Other viewers have suggested two other identities for this mysterious skeleton, the first one being Jesús Malverde. Known as the “Angel of the Poor” or “Narco-Saint”, Malverde is a folklore hero in the state of Sinaloa, México, and he’s celebrated as a folk saint by some in México and the US, and he’s a big figure particularly among drug traffickers, though his existence isn’t historically verified. The other possibility is that the skeleton is a representation of Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, the notorious Mexican drug lord considered one of the most powerful drug traffickers in the world. However, El Chapo is still alive (and is imprisoned in the US), so including him as a skeleton in Coco would also be strange. The identity of the skeleton handing a mysterious package to another one in Coco’s Land of the Dead remains a mystery, but everything points at it having a dark story.