‘Money Heist’ spinoff: What we know so far about ‘Berlin’

More details have been revealed about the TV series Berlin, the long-awaited prequel to the Netflix hit La Casa de Papel or Money Heist. The team behind the Spanish heist series announced Wednesday in Madrid that filming has already begun, and that the new show will be set in Paris and in Spain.

Pedro Alonso, will play the character role of Andrés “Berlin” de Fonollosa, and will be joined by actors Michelle Jenner, Tristán Ulloa and Begoña Vargas. It is not yet known whether other Money Heist characters will make an appearance. The new series delves into the backstory of Berlin in the years before he joined the gang that would go to carry out the biggest heist seen in Spain.

“It’s a trip through the golden age of the character, when he robbed around Europe crazy in love,” said Money Heist creator Álex Pina, at Tudum Festival, a pop culture event that covers Netflix’s original films and TV series, on Saturday. Netflix describes it as a “series full of white-collar crimes, tension, travel, romance and, most interestingly, a sense of humor.” Speaking on Saturday, Pina said that he wanted to create a story with more “romance and comedy.”

“We wanted to do something brighter, with characters that people enjoy watching, after a pandemic and a war in Europe and an economic crisis,” he explained.

Tristán Ulloa, the self-described veteran of the group, added that he was surprised by how much work went into Berlin. “I had never seen anything like that before,” said Ulloa, commenting on the fact that Pina wrote dozens of versions of the same script. “The good thing is that people are going to give us a chance, because of the success of Money Heist. The bad part is there is a bigger risk of disappointing people,” Pina admitted.

Berlin will have eight episodes, which will be directed by Albert Pintó, David Barrocal and Geoffrey Cowper.