A documentary series about Baroness Thyssen and another about LaLiga: Netflix rolls out its new projects for 2024

Like a song or a recipe, a good story is always universal. But the own flavor, that of each land, is liked more than any other. The platforms of streaming, increasingly expanded and with greater and fierce competition, look for stories that fit with a global audience, but also that succeed especially in their markets. Knowing, also, that something very local can be an immense global success, as has happened with series like The Money Heist or the south korean The squid game. Hence, in 2024, platforms such as Netflix will bet on content that is not in English, keeping the Latin American and Spanish-speaking market in mind. For Netflix this year, four of its most important premieres are Ibero-American. This was demonstrated in two recent content presentations: on Wednesday in their California offices in Los Angeles, and on Thursday in Madrid.

At the Tudum Theater in Los Angeles, fifty media outlets attended a complete breakdown of global programming by those responsible for the platform, led by Bela Bajaria, one of the most powerful women in global audiovisual, vice president of content and number two from Netflix. Obviously, long-awaited series with large audiences such as the third season of The Bridgertons (which will arrive in two parts, on May 16 and June 13) or the second of The diplomat (throughout the year) have occupied a prominent place in the presentation. New scenes have also been seen such as The Gentlemen (directed by Guy Ritchie and starring Theo James, in March), Tina Fey's comedy about the current reunion of a fictional pop group that triumphed in the nineties, Girls5Eva (in March), or the second season of The squid game (throughout 2024). But the presentation soon turned to show the power of other markets, and the examples that have stood out have all been in Spanish and Portuguese. First with three important fiction series that will arrive in 2024 from Argentina, Brazil and Colombia: The eternal utah, Senna and One hundred years of loneliness. And then with a Spanish documentary series, The league.

As the vice president and head of content for Latin America, Paco Ramos, explained on stage, “two-thirds of Netflix's audiences are from outside the United States” and, therefore, the bet is clear. In 2022, according to Pew Research, there were almost 64 million Spanish speakers living in the United States, between 15% and 20% of the population, which is why they are key to one of the country's main entertainment companies. “Local audiences are increasingly looking for more authentic content,” he later explained to EL PAÍS. “And it is becoming more and more successful, traveling and continuing to grow.” In the press release distributed by the company, 26 series in a language other than English were highlighted. Of them, there were three Spanish (The Asunta caseThe league, Elite in its eighth and final season), an Argentine (The Eternaluta), a Colombian (One hundred years of loneliness), a Brazilian (Senna).

None of them have an exact date for their release, although it is known that the Colombian blockbuster One hundred years of loneliness will arrive at the end of the year. The adaptation of Gabriel García Márquez's masterpiece, in the process of which his children have collaborated, is finishing filming in Bogotá and on the Colombian Caribbean coast with a 100% local team. In the presentation we could see scenes of Macondo from the series, and also Colonel Aureliano Buendía in front of the firing squad. Another adaptation is Argentina The Eternaluta, a famous science fiction comic from the late 1950s written by Héctor Germán Oesterheld (who disappeared along with his four daughters on Christmas 1977, during the Argentine dictatorship) and with cartoons by Francisco Solano López (died in 2011). The cast is headed by Ricardo Darín as Juan Salvo, in a filming that started last May. Its premiere is expected before summer.

In Brazil it stands out Senna, filmed partly in English and partly in Portuguese, as seen in its first trailer during the Netflix presentation. It portrays the story of the famous racing driver Ayrton Senna, whose death during the San Marino Grand Prix marks 30 years on May 1. The pilot's family has participated in this six-episode production, which will star Brazilian actor Gabriel Leone, 30 years old. He was barely nine months old when the national idol died.

The platform has also shown the first images of an ambitious documentary series about the Spanish soccer league, called The league. Footballers and coaches such as Iker Casillas, Antoine Griezmann and Diego Pablo Simeone participate in it. From the platform they recognize that soccer is not the most followed sport in the United States, although its fan base is growing, but they know of the enormous potential that the Spanish competition has, in addition to Spain, in Latin America and in much of the world. . Even Bajaria, Netflix's number two, has stated that she is excited about this content: “I just love football,” she laughed.

The life of Carmen Cervera

On Thursday, another presentation of Netflix content took place in Madrid, where the platform focused on the Spanish content expected for the year. The list of fiction series that will arrive in the coming months is already long, with titles like Iron Hand, The Asunta Case, Not One More, Clans, Breathe, 1992, Assault on the Central Bank either The last night in Tremorin addition to the eighth and final season of Elite. Added to them are films like Wall to wall, Through your gaze, The champion either The 2nd hole.

Two of the biggest stars of current Spanish audiovisual production, Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, attended the event to present two new projects they have underway at Netflix, in this case as producers. On the one hand, they are behind the series Superstarcreated by Nacho Vigalondo and which revolves around the artistic beginnings of the singer Yurena at a time when she still called herself Tamara. Superstar, in Ambrossi's words, will be a story about “television as a double-edged sword.” It was the nineties and Spanish television was a territory in which anything could happen, such as characters who were not destined to be famous, who could even be defined as geeks, becoming stars.

“It was a wild moment on television and in Spain. Now there is a lot biopic that sweetens the character, and I really liked it I, Tonya, with a wilder and crazier tone,” said Javier Calvo. The series, of which the first image of its cast characterized as his characters has been shown, will also show “how you pay for that savagery and drag it into family relationships. Television elevates you and at the same time pulls you down.” Ingrid García-Jonsson, Natalia de Molina, Secun de la Rosa, Pepón Nieto, Carlos Areces, Julián Villagrán and Rocío Ibáñez are in charge of interpreting Tamara, Loly Álvarez, Leonardo Dantés, Tony Genil, Paco Porras, Arlequín and Margarita Seisdedos.

Calvo and Ambrossi will also be the producers of a new version of the film My dear lady, which in 1972 was directed by Jaime de
Armiñán, who signed the script with José Luis Borau. The film, which starred José Luis López Vázquez, was nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Film in 1973. The Javis, who have not announced names of the cast or who will direct the project, assure that it will be an update of their story. “Times have changed and we believe it is a good time to revisit this story, a wonderful and wonderful story of gender identity and love.” mainstream. The creative challenge is how far it can be updated without losing the essence,” they said.

The last big announcement of the day had Baroness Thyssen, Carmen Cervera, as the protagonist. She will be the center of a documentary series in which she will tell her story and, according to the official Netflix note, “will reveal many questions that the public has been wondering for years.” In the baroness's brief presentation, she assured that the project was born from her conviction that this is the time to tell her life from the beginning. The production company Komodo Studio, creators of I'm Georgina (a program that has confirmed a third season focused on their stay in Saudi Arabia), will be in charge of the project.

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