The series has three "seasons", that were filmed "back to back." They cover about 30 years.

The show says it was careful not to glamorize El Chapo, or cause people to root for him, and although the first episode people may leave people feeling empathetic towards him, that is likely to change quickly. From a Forbes article (no link due to auto-play video and too many popups):

We have been careful not to glamorize El Chapo’s behavior, but while the initial focus is on El Chapo, I think you will find that Don Sol is also a really compelling character. Overall the series explores many universal themes that will resonate a broad audience including power, ambition, corruption, secrecy, deception and the rise and fall of a legend.

The first episode will start with his youth. Pretty quick they will get to him working for the Guadalajara Cartel and Miguel Felix Gallardo, and then his partnership with ‘El Güero’, who in real life is Hector Luis Palma Salazar.

Marco de la O, who plays El Chapo, looks very much like him. There's also a clear resemblence between actor Juan Carlos Olivas and his character ‘El Güero’(the show uses a fictional name for Palma-Salazar.)

The main reason I have hope for the show is that unlike Narcos, it is not a story told through the biased lens of law enforcement. I hope in the effort not to make El Chapo sympathetic they don't go overboard the other way and focus only on the violence. I'm probably most interested in the political angle(complicity of the Mexican government) and corruption (of police and military)aspects.

In real life El Chapo, the Government filed another request for a determination as to whether the Federal Defenders' office should be disqualified because of their prior representation of cooperating witnesses. In it they say El Chapo has met with 16 private lawyers so far about taking over his representation.