While Money Heist, also known as La Casa de Papel, is coming to an end soon, the series’ universe is just beginning. Berlin, a prequel spinoff of the Spanish show based on the character of the same name, is coming to Netflix in 2023.
The actor behind Berlin, Pedro Alonso, announced the spinoff series in a Money Heist fan event hosted by Netflix on Tuesday in Madrid: “It is a memorable moment because it is the end of one cycle and the beginning of another,” said Alonso. “Today I was talking to Jesús Colmenar and we were saying that now we walk into the unknown, open to whatever happens and without expectations.
“I know that [the screenwriters] will give the series every possible twist and turn,” he said. “The responsibility [of spinning off a worldly loved series] can be a burden and a prison, I hope we continue to have the courage to use this wonderful energy to risk everything again.”
The upcoming series will tell Berlin’s origin story before the events of Money Heist.
The popularity of ‘Money Heist’
Before the release of Squid Game, Money Heist was Netflix’s most popular foreign-language series. The platform revealed that 180 million households around the world have watched the crime thriller.
The Spanish show follows a group of thieves that break into the Royal Mint of Spain to print and steal millions of authentic Euro bills. Each member of the group is codenamed after a major city of the world. Andrés de Fonollosa, who goes by Berlin, leads the robbers under the orders of the heist’s mastermind, known as “The Professor.”
La Casa De Papel, created by Álex Pina, is directed by Jesús Colmenar and written by Esther Martínez Lobato. Outside of Alonso, the series stars Úrsula Corberó (Tokio), Álvaro Morte (The Professor), Najwa Nimri (Alicia Sierra), Miguel Herrán (Rio), Jaime Lorente (Denver), Esther Acebo (Mónica/Estocolmo), Darko Peric (Helsinki), Hovik Keuchkerian (Bogotá), Luka Peros (Marsella), Belén Cuesta (Manila).
The last five episodes of the fifth and final season of Money Heist will be released on Netflix on Friday, Dec. 3.
