Álex Pina, the creator of Netflix’s mega-hit Spanish-language series, Money Heist, is already working on a new high-concept series inspired by the COVID-19 pandemic, fresh after extending his deal with the streamer.
The untitled series will follow a group of rich Spaniards who escape to a luxury underground bunker when an apocalyptic catastrophe strikes on the surface.
Pina spoke to GQ España about how the idea of the series came to him.
Last October, he saw a story in the newspaper about how the pandemic had resulted in an increase in demand and price for shelters and underground bunkers in the United States to unprecedented heights.
Even among such a scheme, what caught the creator’s attention was a luxury home built in the basement consisting of fifteen floors that could inhabit up to 75 people with energy reserves to last for five years.
The bunker included a cinema, a swimming pool, a spa, gyms, common gardens, a supermarket, photovoltaic light, and other technological advances. In Pina’s words, it almost felt like “an underground society.”
So we told Netflix this idea in December, and we closed it with the new agreement, only now it has a different meaning. The invasion of Ukraine makes us rethink what people are like who decide to get in there and, above all, what are the things that are brought from above.
We want to build a personal and social Tetris, full of family quarrels, loves, affections. All this in a context of confinement raised in absolute terms. The idea is to work on a choral story about a large community trapped underground. An apocalyptic high-concept.
The creator also talked about another series in development that’ll revive a beloved character from Money Heist. Pena said that the love that Berlin received worldwide meant that a spinoff based on him was almost a done deal even before Netflix renewed the series for Season 3.
However, as the show has become a huge part of pop culture, the creator wants to plan everything carefully moving forward. While talking about expanding the universe of La Casa De Papel at the risk of disappointing fans, Pina noted,
It’s dangerous, of course. The last thing we want is for the Berlin series to disappoint fans of La Casa… That’s why we’re working on another of our hybrids: half illusionism, almost David Copperfield, and half French love film. All this is covered by the cynical and ironic personality that the character has always had. It’s what we’re working on right now, and it stems from a desire to take Berlin to places where you don’t expect to see it.
Pina will produce the spinoff through Vancouver Media, which is set to premiere on Netflix in 2023. Pedro Alonso will reprise the role of Berlin in the spinoff.
Netflix also recently greenlit a Korean version of LCDP, titled Money Heist: Korea – Joint Economic Area. Actor Park Hae-soo, from the streamer’s other hit series Squid Game, is set to portray Berlin in this version.
About Money Heist
Money Heist (Spanish: La casa de papel, meaning “The House of Paper”) is a Spanish heist crime drama television series created by Álex Pina.
The series traces two long-prepared heists led by the Professor (Álvaro Morte), one on the Royal Mint of Spain, and one on the Bank of Spain. The narrative is told in a real-time-like fashion and relies on flashbacks, time-jumps, hidden character motivations, and an unreliable narrator for complexity.
The show focuses on the meticulous plans and the specific contingencies of the Professor who has prepared his group of robbers dressed in red jumpsuits and Dali masks.
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