Money Heist

Money Heist (Spanish: La casa de papel, [la ˈkasa ðe paˈpel], lit. '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, told from the perspective of one of the robbers, Tokyo (Úrsula Corberó). The story is told in a real-time-like fashion and relies on an unreliable narrator, flashbacks, time-jumps, and hidden character motivations for complexity.

The series was initially intended as a two-part limited series. It had its original run of 15 episodes on Spanish network Antena 3 from 2 May 2017 through 23 November 2017. Netflix acquired global streaming rights in late 2017. It re-cut the series into 22 shorter episodes and released them worldwide, beginning with the first part on 20 December 2017, followed by the second part on 6 April 2018. In April 2018, Netflix renewed the series with a significantly increased budget for 16 new episodes total. Part 3, with eight episodes, was released on 19 July 2019. Part 4, also with eight episodes, was released on 3 April 2020. A documentary involving the producers and the cast premiered on Netflix the same day, titled Money Heist: The Phenomenon (Spanish: La casa de papel: El Fenómeno). In July 2020, Netflix renewed the show for a fifth and final part, which was released in two five-episode volumes, on 3 September and 3 December 2021, respectively.

Similar to Money Heist: The Phenomenon, a two-part documentary involving the producers and cast premiered on Netflix the same day, titled Money Heist: From Tokyo to Berlin. The series was filmed in Madrid, Spain. Significant portions were also filmed in Panama, Thailand, Italy (Florence), Denmark and in Portugal (Lisbon). A South Korean remake set in an alternate universe, Money Heist: Korea – Joint Economic Area, was released in two parts on 24 June and 9 December 2022 respectively, while a direct spin-off, Berlin, with Pedro Alonso, Itziar Ituño, and Najwa Nimri reprising their roles, was released on 29 December 2023, forming a shared universe.

The series received several awards including the International Emmy Award for Best Drama Series at the 46th International Emmy Awards, as well as critical acclaim for its sophisticated plot, interpersonal dramas, direction, and for trying to innovate Spanish television. The Italian anti-fascist song "Bella ciao", which plays multiple times throughout the series, became a summer hit across Europe in 2018. By that year, the series was the most-watched non-English-language series and one of the most-watched series overall on Netflix, having particular resonance with viewers from Mediterranean Europe and the Latin American regions.

Premise

Set in Madrid, a mysterious man known as the "Professor" recruits a group of eight people, who choose city names as their aliases for anonymity, to carry out an ambitious plan that involves entering the Royal Mint of Spain, and escaping with €984 million. After taking 67 people hostage inside the Mint, the team plans to remain inside for 11 days to print the money as they deal with elite police forces. In the events following the initial heist, the group members are forced out of hiding and prepare for a second heist, with some additional members, this time aiming to escape with gold from the Bank of Spain and rescuing an old friend and member of the heist, as they again deal with hostages and police forces.

Cast and characters

Main

Recurring

• Roberto García Ruiz as Dimitri Mostovói / Radko Dragić (Oslo; parts 1–2; featured parts 3–4): a veteran Serbian soldier and Helsinki's cousin
• Fernando Soto as Ángel Rubio (parts 1–2; featured parts 3–5): a deputy inspector and Raquel's second-in-command
• Juan Fernández as Colonel Alfonso Prieto (parts 1–2; featured parts 3–4): a member of the Spanish Intelligence who oversees Raquel's work on the case
• Anna Gras as Mercedes Colmenar (parts 1–2): Alison's teacher and one of the hostages in the Mint
• Fran Morcillo as Pablo Ruiz (part 1): Alison's schoolmate and one of the hostages in the Mint
• Clara Alvarado as Ariadna Cascales (parts 1–2): one of the hostages who works in the Mint and seduces Berlin
• Mario de la Rosa as Suárez: the chief of the Grupo Especial de Operaciones
• Miquel García Borda as Alberto Vicuña (parts 1–2; featured parts 4-5): Raquel's ex-husband and a forensic examiner
• Naia Guz as Paula Vicuña Murillo (parts 1–2; featured parts 3–4): Raquel and Alberto's daughter
• José Manuel Poga as César Gandía (parts 4–5; featured part 3): chief of security for the Bank of Spain who escapes from hostage and causes havoc for the group
• Antonio Romero as Benito Antoñanzas (parts 3–5): an assistant to Colonel Luis Tamayo, who is persuaded by the Professor to do tasks for him
• Diana Gómez as Tatiana (featured parts 3–5): the fifth ex-wife of Berlin who is a professional pianist and thief
• Pep Munné as Mario Urbaneja (featured parts 3–5): the governor of the Bank of Spain
• Olalla Hernández as Amanda (featured parts 3–5): the Secretary to the governor of the Bank of Spain and hostage who Arturo rapes
• Mari Carmen Sánchez as Paquita (featured parts 3–5): a hostage in the Bank of Spain and a nurse who tends to Nairobi while she recovers
• Carlos Suárez as Miguel Fernández (featured parts 3–5): a nervous hostage in the Bank of Spain
• Ahikar Azcona as Matías Caño (Pamplona; featured parts 3–5): a member of the group who largely guards the hostages in the Bank of Spain
• Ramón Agirre as Benjamín Martinez (Logroño; featured parts 4–5): father of Manila who aids the Professor in his plan
• Antonio García Ferreras as himself (featured parts 4–5): a journalist
• José Manuel Seda as Sagasta (part 5): leader of the army detail inside the bank
• Patrick Criado as Rafael (featured part 5): Berlin's son and Professor's nephew
• Miguel Ángel Silvestre (featured part 5): René, Tokyo's boyfriend before working with the Professor
• Alberto Amarilla as Ramiro (part 5): member of Sagasta's Special Forces
• Jennifer Miranda as Arteche (part 5): member of Sagasta's Special Forces
• Ajay Jethi as Shakir (featured parts 4–5): the lead Pakistani hacker that was hired by the Professor during the Bank of Spain robbery

Production

Conception and writing

The series was conceived by screenwriter Álex Pina and director Jesús Colmenar during their years of collaboration since 2008. After finishing their work on the Spanish prison drama Locked Up (Vis a vis), they left Globomedia to set up their own production company, named Vancouver Media, in 2016. For their first project, they considered either filming a comedy or developing a heist story for television, with the latter having never been attempted before on Spanish television. Along with former Locked Up colleagues, they developed Money Heist as a passion project to try new things without outside interference. Pina was firm about making it a limited series, feeling that dilution had become a problem for his previous productions.

Initially entitled Los Desahuciados (The Evicted) in the conception phase, the series was developed to subvert heist conventions and combine elements of the action genre, thrillers and surrealism, while still being credible. Pina saw an advantage over typical heist films in that character development could span a considerably longer narrative story arc. Characters were to be shown from multiple sides to break the viewers' preconceptions of villainy and retain their interest throughout the show. Key aspects of the planned storyline were written down at the beginning, while the finer story beats were developed incrementally to not overwhelm the writers. Writer Javier Gómez Santander compared the writing process to the Professor's way of thinking, "going around, writing down options, consulting engineers whom you cannot tell why you ask them that," but noted that fiction allowed the police to be written dumber when necessary.

The beginning of filming was set for January 2017, allowing for five months of pre-production. The narrative was split into two parts for financial considerations. The robbers' city-based code names, which Spanish newspaper ABC compared to the colour-based code names in Quentin Tarantino's 1992 heist film Reservoir Dogs, were chosen at random in the first part, although places with high viewership resonance were also taken into account for the new robbers' code names in part 3. The first five lines of the pilot script took a month to write, as the writers were unable to make the Professor or Moscow work as the narrator. Ultimately, Tokyo was chosen as the narrator. Flashbacks and time-jumps increased the narrative complexity and made the story more fluid for the audience. The pilot episode required over 50 script versions until the producers were satisfied. Later scripts would be finished once per week to keep up with filming.