After his overwhelming success in the world .. "La Casa de Papel" launches its last season, Friday

On Friday, Netflix will release the last five episodes of its famous Spanish series “La Casa de Papel”, which opened the door to a torrent of successful non-English-speaking productions on streaming services.


The suspense series created by the Spanish private network "Antena 3" and centered around complex thefts carried out by a gang of professional thieves, has become the most watched series on Netflix among non-English speaking business since it was launched on the giant American platform in December 2017.


Even the characters of the thieves, all of whom have Iconic names for cities around the world have attracted audiences in the United States who were not accustomed to watching dubbed titles.


The series was praised by many critics and newspapers around the world, including the New York Times, which praised the series and its twists and turns, describing it as an "enjoyable journey in every sense of the word."


The red costume and Salvador Dali masks worn by the rebellious gang members of the series quickly became popular accessories around the world at masquerade parties and street protests.


"This is the first non-English language series to become a global phenomenon," said Elena Neira, professor of communication sciences at the Open University of Catalonia.


Thanks to this success, Netflix and its competitors "realized that they didn't need to produce everything in the United States" to attract a global audience, says Neira.


Soon, Netflix achieved additional major successes with other non-English series, such as the French series "Lupin" and the South Korean drama "Squid Game", which this year became the most watched series on the platform at all.


Although La Casa de Papel's screenplay is not "revolutionary," it tells a "very universal story, of the struggle between good and evil...with messages about the power of women, camaraderie, and the need for rebellion," according to Neira.


The professor added that Lupine shares many of the traits of La Casa de Papel, such as his focus on a thief who has a "certain moral" and "extremely intelligent" side.


The Spanish series was also fortunate that Netflix bought its rights shortly after launching its services in January 2016 in more than 130 countries, which gave the work a spread to almost every country in the world except for China.


Alberto Nahum Garcia, professor of audio-visual communication at the Spanish University of Nabara, said that Netflix's recommendation algorithm prioritizes series such as "La Casa de Papel" because of its ability to make viewers "addicted" to events.


"There was a confluence of positive factors at a stage when the distribution became more global," he added.


Nera said that the series also benefited from the desire of the giant American streaming platform to invest heavily in dubbed works and add subtitles to its programs in dozens of languages.


The global success of La Casa de Papel also gave the Spanish audio-visual sector a huge boost.


The creator of the series, Alex Pena, said Tuesday during a press conference in Madrid to promote the second part of the fifth and final season of the series, that this work "made the Spanish productions reach a place we never dreamed of."


In 2018, Netflix signed a contract with Pina to produce new series and projects exclusively for the giant platform.


The following year, Netflix opened its first European production center in Madrid, as part of a multi-million dollar investment in Spanish-language content.


"La Casa de Papel" showed that "stories can be sourced anywhere in the world and are appreciated everywhere around the world," Diego Avalos, vice president of content at Netflix for Spain and Portugal, told AFP.


Many of the series' protagonists have become regular stars in other Netflix series.


Jaime Llorente, who plays the angry thief Denver, and Miguel Hern, who plays the young computer hacker Rio, also participates in the series "Elite", another successful Spanish work on the American platform.


Netflix CEO Reed Hastings said it was "amazing" to see Spanish shows such as "La Casa de Papel" and "Elite" gaining fan interest "not only in Spain, but worldwide".


"Our goal is to be part of the Spanish creative ecosystem," he added at the opening of the company's production center in Madrid. We are investing for the long term.”


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