Filming has been under way since Monday 5 February for El refugio atómico (lit. “The Nuclear Shelter”), the new series created by Álex Pina and Esther Martínez Lobato, the brains behind Netflix smash hits such as Money Heist, Sky Rojo and the recently released Berlin. Across its eight one-hour episodes, it tells of how World War III is about to break out and a group of multi-millionaires takes refuge in a luxury bunker, called Kimera Underground Park.

From within its walls, they will watch as a bewildering spectacle unfolds on various screens and the world they once knew comes crashing down above their heads. And while the situation outside becomes ever more terrifying, they will make the most of their exclusive city, complete with a basketball court, restaurant, zen garden, cocktail bar, shrink’s couch, gym and spa. That is what their privilege will boil down to: just like in the reality TV show Big Brother, they will gradually get accustomed to living (together) in a luxurious hellhole located in a subterranean universe full of enigmas, a place where the unfinished business of two families afflicted by a wound from the past will erupt.

The inhabitants of this shelter are played by Miren Ibarguren (whom we saw recently in the series You Shall Not Lie [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
fiche série], and in films such as Phenomena and My Father’s Mexican Wedding [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
fiche film]), Joaquín Furriel (an Argentinian actor who has appeared in European flicks of the likes of The Year of Fury [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Rafa Russo
fiche film] and Enterrados [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
fiche film]), Natalia Verbeke (also in the series You Shall Not Lie), Carlos Santos (Goya Award for Best New Actor for Smoke & Mirrors [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Alberto Rodríguez
fiche film], glimpsed last year in Mi otro Jon and De perdidos a Río [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
fiche film]), Montse Guallar, big-screen debutant Pau Simon, Alicia Falcó, Agustina Bisio and Álex Villazón.

These thesps will be directed by Jesús Colmenar (who has helmed various episodes of Money Heist and Sky Rojo), David Barrocal (also behind Sky Rojo and Berlin) and Mexico’s José Manuel Cravioto (the Mexican series El colapso). The screenplays have been penned by Álex Pina, Esther Martínez Lobato, David Barrocal, David Oliva, Lorena G Maldonado and Humberto Ortega.

El refugio atómico is a production by Vancouver Media (Álex Pina’s company) for Netflix. The series will be aired imminently, all over the world, on Netflix and will only be available on that platform.