Lamenting the end of Money Heist on Netflix? It sounds like the show’s creator, Álex Pina, is working on an even more ambitious new series for the streaming service.
The acclaimed writer-producer has extended his multi-show deal with Netflix, which has given the green light to a still-untitled show reportedly inspired by the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the new series will be set in a luxury underground bunker designed to protect Spain’s elite from the perils of the outside world. Pina has said the idea was born from a Spanish newspaper story exposing a series of pandemic-proof shelters bought by wealthy Spaniards in recent years.
“Some of the new shelters that were being built were luxury homes in the subsoil,” Pina told THR. “Up to 15 floors down, with exclusive services such as [a] cinema, pool, spa, gym and common gardens. With water and food to survive more than five years. An underground community for 75 people.”
“[So] we thought about what life would be like there,” Pina added. “Social, family and romantic relationships, in an underground shelter [into] which they had hastily and exclusively fled.”
Incidentally, the show’s premise reads like a prequel story to fellow Netflix series The Rain, a Scandinavian drama following two siblings who emerge from the safety of a bunker to find the world has been ravaged by a deadly virus.
There’s been no word yet on when Pina’s pandemic-inspired project will arrive on the streamer, nor who will make up its cast. Being set in Spain, though, we’d say there’s a good chance we’ll see some familiar Money Heist faces attach themselves to the show soon.
Speaking of which, Pina’s Netflix deal extension also includes a Money Heist spin-off series, Berlin, focused on the back-story of Pedro Alonso’s fan-favorite character. We know this one is scheduled to hit the streamer in 2023, which is most likely earlier than Pina’s brand new show.
Recapturing the Money Heist magic
Money Heist has proved to be an unexpectedly lucrative investment for Netflix.
Having been originally created for Spanish television network Antenna 3, the streaming service began financing the show in its third season, and it would go on to become, for a time, the most-watched non-English-language drama on the platform.
Hwang Dong-hyuk's Squid Game has since stolen that accolade, but Money Heist nonetheless remains one of the biggest shows on Netflix, which explains why the streamer was so keen to maintain the exclusive rights to new shows written by its talented creator, Pina.
In addition to those two new Spanish-language shows, though, Pina is also set to executive produce a Korean version of Money Heist for Netflix – which will be led by none other than Squid Game's Park Hae-soo.
Netflix has said the upcoming adaptation will “breathe new life into the familiar [Money Heist] storyline and bring the material afresh to global audiences.”
In 2021, we would have said with confidence that no other Netflix series could ever prove as popular as Squid Game – apart from Squid Game season 2, perhaps – but a Korean version of the streamer's second-most popular international show (featuring a leading man from its most popular, no less) has us re-thinking that assumption.
In any case, Money Heist fans may have seen their beloved show come to an emotional end last year, but they've got plenty to look forward to on Netflix in the (hopefully) near future.
