Money Heist

Money Heist
File:La casa de papel intertitle.png
La casa de papel
Genre	Crime drama Thriller Heist
Created by	Álex Pina
Starring	Úrsula Corberó Itziar Ituño Álvaro Morte Paco Tous Pedro Alonso Alba Flores Miguel Herrán Jaime Lorente Esther Acebo Enrique Arce María Pedraza Darko Peric Kiti Mánver Hovik Keuchkerian Rodrigo de la Serna Najwa Nimri
Theme music composer	Manel Santisteban
Opening theme	"My Life Is Going On" by Cecilia Krull
Composers	Manel Santisteban Iván Martínez Lacámara
Country of origin	Spain
Original language	Spanish
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	23 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Álex Pina Sonia Martínez Jesús Colmenar Esther Martínez Lobato Nacho Manubens
Production location	Madrid
Cinematography	Migue Amoedo
Editors	David Pelegrín Luis Miguel González Bedmar Verónica Callón Raúl Mora Regino Hernández Raquel Marraco Patricia Rubio
Camera setup	Single-camera
Running time	70 minutes (Part 1–2) 41–57 minutes (Part 3)
Production companies	Vancouver Media Atresmedia
Original release
Network	Antena 3 (2017) Netflix (2019)
Release	2 May 2017 (2017-05-02) – present

Money Heist (Spanish: La casa de papel, lit. 'The Paper House') is a Spanish heist television series created by Álex Pina. The story in the first two parts revolves around a long-prepared, multi-day assault on the Royal Mint of Spain in which a team of people take hold of hostages as part of their plan to print, and escape with, €2.4 billion. The third part revolves around an assault on the Bank of Spain. It was initially intended as a limited series and premiered on 2 May 2017 on Spanish network Antena 3. Antena 3 distributed the series in Spain before Netflix acquired it in late 2017; Netflix edited the series and re-released it worldwide. Money Heist stars Úrsula Corberó, Itziar Ituño, Álvaro Morte, Miguel Herrán, Paco Tous, Pedro Alonso, and Alba Flores. In April 2018, Netflix renewed the series for a third part, which was released on 19 July 2019.

Cast and characters

Main

• Úrsula Corberó as Silene Oliveira (Tokyo) – The protagonist and narrator; she was a runaway robber until scouted by the Professor to participate in his plan.
• Itziar Ituño as Raquel Murillo (later as Lisbon) – An inspector of the National Police Corps who is put in charge of the case until she joins the gang as Lisbon in part 3.
• Álvaro Morte as Sergio Marquina (The Professor / Salvador "Salva" Martín) – The mastermind of the heist who assembled the group and Berlin's brother.
• Paco Tous as Agustín Ramos dos Hermanas (Moscow) (part 1–2) – A former miner turned criminal and Denver's father.
• Pedro Alonso as Andrés de Fonollosa (Berlin) – A jewel thief and the Professor's second-in-command and brother.
• Alba Flores as Ágata Jiménez (Nairobi) – An expert in forgery in charge of printing the money for the group.
• Miguel Herrán as Aníbal Cortés (Rio) – A young hacker and Tokyo's boyfriend.
• Jaime Lorente as Daniel Ramos (Denver) – Moscow's son who joins him in the heist.
• Esther Acebo as Mónica Gaztambide (Stockholm) – One of the hostages who is Arturo Román's secretary and mistress. During the robbery, she falls in love with Denver and becomes an accomplice to the team.
• Enrique Arce as Arturo Román – A hostage and the Director of the Royal Mint of Spain.
• María Pedraza as Alison Parker (part 1–2) – A hostage and daughter of the British ambassador to Spain.
• Darko Peric as Yashin Dasáyev (Helsinki) – A veteran Serbian soldier and Oslo's cousin.
• Kiti Mánver as Mariví Fuentes (part 1-2; recurring part 3) – Raquel's mother.
• Hovik Keuchkerian as Bogotá (part 3) – Member of the gang that joins the robbery of the Bank of Spain.
• Rodrigo de la Serna as Martín (Palermo / The Engineer) (part 3) – In charge of planning the robbery to the Bank of Spain and commanding officer.
• Najwa Nimri as Alicia Sierra (part 3) – Pregnant inspector of the National Police Corps, responsible for catching the Professor.

Recurring

• Roberto Garcia Ruiz as Radko Dragic (Oslo / Dimitri Mostovói) (part 1–2) – A veteran Serbian soldier and Helsinki's cousin.
• Fernando Soto as Ángel Rubio – A deputy inspector and Raquel's second-in-command.
• Juan Fernández as Coronel Prieto – A member of the Spanish Intelligence who oversees Raquel's work on the case.
• Anna Gras as Mercedes Colmenar (part 1–2) – Alison's teacher and one of the hostages.
• Fran Morcillo as Pablo Ruiz (part 1) – Alison's schoolmate and one of the hostages.
• Clara Alvarado as Ariadna Cascales (part 1–2) – One of the hostages who work on the Mint.
• Mario de la Rosa as Suárez – The chief of the Grupo Especial de Operaciones.
• Miquel García Borda as Alberto Vicuña (part 1–2) – Raquel's ex-husband and forensic examiner.
• Naia Guz as Paula Vicuña Murillo – Raquel and Alberto's daughter.
• Luka Peros as Marseille (part 3) – Member of the gang that joins to the robbery of the Bank of Spain.
• Fernando Cayo as Coronel Luis Tamayo (part 3) – A member of the Spanish Intelligence that oversees Alicia's work in the case.

Episodes

Season	Episodes		Originally aired
			First aired	Last aired
1	23	9	2 May 2017 (2017-05-02)	27 June 2017 (2017-06-27)
		6	16 October 2017 (2017-10-16)	23 November 2017 (2017-11-23)
		8	19 July 2019 (2019-07-19)

Season 1 (2017–2019)

No.	Title	English title translation	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	Spain viewers (millions)
'
1	"Efectuar lo acordado"	"Do as Planned"	Jesús Colmenar	Álex Pina & Esther Martínez Lobato	2 May 2017 (2017-05-02)	4.09
Under the guidance of a mysterious man called "The Professor", a group of robbers, Tokyo, Rio, Berlin, Nairobi, Denver, Moscow, Oslo, and Helsinki, invade the Royal Mint of Spain wearing Salvador Dalí masks, and take hold of 67 hostages as part of their plan to print, and escape with, €2.4 billion. Raquel Murillo, a police investigator is put in charge of the case, unaware that the mastermind is closer than she could ever imagine.
2	"Imprudencias letales"	"Lethal Negligence"	Miguel Ángel Vivas	Álex Pina, Esther Martínez Lobato, Javier Gómez Santander, Pablo Roa, Fernando Sancristóbal & David Barrocal	9 May 2017 (2017-05-09)	3.04
The robbers begin to print the money while Arturo Román, one of the hostages, starts making plans for escaping, assisted by his secretary and mistress Mónica Gaztambide, who is carrying his child. Mónica is caught with a cell phone while planning the escape, and is ordered, by Berlin, to be killed by Denver. Meanwhile, Rio makes a mistake that leads to his and Tokyo's identities being discovered by the police.
3	"Errar al disparar"	"Missing Fire"	Álex Rodrigo	Álex Pina, Esther Martínez Lobato & David Barrocal	16 May 2017 (2017-05-16)	2.64
Believing that Denver executed Mónica under Berlin's orders, Moscow, Denver's father, is devastated and considers turning himself in. Meanwhile, Raquel becomes more intimately involved with her new friend Salva, oblivious to the fact that it is a pseudonym assumed by the Professor.
4	"Caballo de Troya"	"Trojan Horse"	Alejandro Bazzano	Álex Pina, Esther Martínez Lobato, Javier Gómez Santander, Pablo Roa, Fernando Sancristóbal & David Barrocal	23 May 2017 (2017-05-23)	2.65
Raquel sends her police partner Ángel Rubio undercover with a medic team that is allowed inside the Mint to treat Arturo, who was mistaken for one of the robbers and shot by the police. However, the Professor sees through her move, and comes with his own plan to gain an advantage on her by inserting a bug into Ángel's glasses.
5	"El día de la marmota"	"The Day of the Mole"	Jesús Colmenar	Álex Pina, Esther Martínez Lobato, Javier Gómez Santander, Pablo Roa, Fernando Sancristóbal & David Barrocal	30 May 2017 (2017-05-30)	2.36
The Professor runs ahead of the police to get rid of an important piece of evidence that can endanger his plans, their finger prints in a car at a scrap yard that Helsinki neglected to destroy. Meanwhile, Denver treats Mónica in a secret location after he shot her leg to forge her execution, and they end up becoming closer.
6	"La cálida Guerra Fría"	"The Hot Cold War"	Miguel Ángel Vivas	Álex Pina, Esther Martínez Lobato, Javier Gómez Santander & Fernando Sancristóbal	6 June 2017 (2017-06-06)	2.47
As the Professor rushes out of the scrap yard, a man sees him. The Professor threatens to kill the man's family if the facial composite of his description looks like him. Berlin discovers that Denver did not kill Mónica as ordered and believing that his identity was exposed because of him, comes close to executing him for his disobedience.
7	"Refrigerada inestabilidad"	"Cool Instability"	Álex Rodrigo	Álex Pina, Esther Martínez Lobato, Pablo Roa & Esther Morales	13 June 2017 (2017-06-13)	2.42
The robbers initiate a plan to use the hostages to stall the police and gain more time, but Raquel takes the chance to reveal a secret that Berlin has kept from the others—he only has a few months left to live due to a terminal illness—increasing the mistrust among them and makes an attempt to convince Rio to surrender.
8	"Tú lo has buscado"	"You Asked for It"	Alejandro Bazzano	Álex Pina, Esther Martínez Lobato, Javier Gómez Santander, Pablo Roa & Fernando Sancristóbal	20 June 2017 (2017-06-20)	2.07
Raquel loses her trust in Ángel, who is unaware of the bug the robbers planted in his glasses, while Arturo prepares another plan to escape, but becomes devastated upon discovering Mónica and Denver's affair. Ángel, who is taken off the case, is in a coma after a car accident while drunk, discovered the Professor's identity through fingerprints taken from his cider factory—a front for his hideout.
9	"El que la sigue la consigue"	"Whoever Keeps Trying It, Gets It"	Jesús Colmenar	Álex Pina, Esther Martínez Lobato, Javier Gómez Santander, Pablo Roa, Fernando Sancristóbal & Esther Morales	27 June 2017 (2017-06-27)	2.19
Thanks to Arturo's plan, 16 hostages manage to escape and Oslo is on the brink of death after he is beaten by some of the hostages. Before Ángel's accident, he had left several voice mails on Raquel's mobile phone, as well as one on her landline, exclaiming that Salva was the one behind the heist. Raquel's mother, who has Alzheimer's disease, listens to Ángel's message, writes it down, and tries calling Raquel's phone. When Raquel does not answer, she calls Salva for him to pass along the message. The Professor realises that he must kill Raquel's mother. He goes to her home and poisons her coffee, but cannot go through with it and slaps the cup out of her hand. When she thinks it was her fault, he realises that she has Alzheimer's disease and simply deletes the messages and her note. Later, Raquel brings Salva along to Toledo and finds the robbers' villa, where they planned the heist.
'
10	"Se acabaron las máscaras"	"Masked No Longer"	Álex Rodrigo	Álex Pina, Esther Martínez Lobato, Javier Gómez Santander, Pablo Roa, Fernando Sancristóbal & Esther Morales	16 October 2017 (2017-10-16)	1.99
A team of police are brought to the discovered villa and search through "evidence" planted by the Professor earlier. Raquel's ex-husband Alberto is called in to lead the forensics examination, and finds burned evidence on the Professor in the chimney. Salva gets a ride back to Madrid with Alberto, and purposely causes a fight with Alberto, leaving him unconscious for a short period of time, enough time to erase that piece of evidence that can compromise him. When Alberto awakes, he arrests the Professor and brings him to jail. The Professor uses the bathroom at the prison and beats himself up to make it look like it was done by Alberto. He calls Raquel who helps release him. Meanwhile, the robbers start losing hope after many hours without news from the Professor, and Tokyo begins a mutiny after becoming restless. Berlin ties Tokyo to a table and rolls her out of the Mint, where she is captured by the police.
11	"La cabeza del plan"	"The Head of the Plan"	Alejandro Bazzano	Álex Pina, Esther Martínez Lobato, Javier Gómez Santander, Pablo Roa, Fernando Sancristóbal, Esther Morales & David Barrocal	23 October 2017 (2017-10-23)	1.73
After Berlin turns Tokyo to the police for threatening him, Rio wants revenge. Now as one of the hostages, Rio joins forces with Arturo in another escape plan with Mónica's help. Berlin comes close to killing Rio.
12	"Cuestión de eficacia"	"A Matter of Efficiency"	Javier Quintas	Álex Pina, Esther Martínez Lobato, Javier Gómez Santander, Pablo Roa, Fernando Sancristóbal, Esther Morales & David Barrocal	2 November 2017 (2017-11-02)	1.57
By the Professor's promise that he will free Tokyo from the police, Rio rejoins the robbers and helps them stop Arturo's latest escape plan. Meanwhile, Raquel sets a trap for the Professor by creating a hoax that Ángel has awakened from his coma, in hopes it would lure him to the hospital to finish him off before he can identify the Professor. The Professor, sceptical of the announcement, casts dozens of clowns at the hospital and dresses up like one, blending in with the crowd while confirming the hoax. Later, while Salva meets with Raquel at a cafe, an orange hair from his clown wig was left on his jacket, which catches the eye of Raquel, finally realising that Salva is the Professor.
13	"¿Qué hemos hecho?"	"What Have We Done?"	Jesús Colmenar & Alex Rodrigo	Álex Pina, Esther Martínez Lobato, Javier Gómez Santander, Pablo Roa, Fernando Sancristóbal & David Barrocal	9 November 2017 (2017-11-09)	1.53
Realising that Salva is the Professor, Raquel takes him into custody and interrogates him at the villa. The Professor admits that he has fallen in love with her, and she performs a polygraph test on him. Meanwhile, Arturo is punished for his multiple attempts to escape and Moscow reveals a secret to Denver that he left his mother when he was young because she was a drug addict, which creates a divide between father and son. While Tokyo is transported to prison, she is freed by men sent by the Professor. She rides a motorcycle directly into the Mint, avoiding being shot by police as Moscow opens the door.
14	"A contrarreloj"	"Against the Clock"	Alejandro Bazzano	Álex Pina, Esther Martínez Lobato, Javier Gómez Santander, Pablo Roa, Fernando Sancristóbal & David Barrocal	16 November 2017 (2017-11-16)	1.48
Moscow is gravely injured by a police gunshot after helping Tokyo return to the Mint and the police refuse to send aid. The robbers then rush to finish their escape tunnel. The Professor walks out of the villa at gunpoint by Raquel, but she is emotionally unable and unwilling to stop him from escaping. Colonel Prieto, Suárez, and Alberto confront Raquel and remove her from the case after they identify the Professor as Salva (Sergio), who they believe Raquel is co-operating with due to signals made from local cell towers by calls from the Professor to Raquel. With her gun and badge taken away, she takes Ángel's badge and starts to conduct her own investigation by looking through surveillance footage of restaurants to determine the route the Professor had taken from his hideout. As she leaves, Ángel awakens.
15	"Bella ciao"	"Bye Beautiful"	Jesús Colmenar & Alex Rodrigo	Álex Pina, Esther Martínez Lobato, Javier Gómez Santander, Pablo Roa, Fernando Sancristóbal, Esther Morales & David Barrocal	23 November 2017 (2017-11-23)	1.80
As the police, led by Suárez, launch an attack on the Mint to liberate the hostages and capture the robbers, the robbers run to escape with the money they printed since the 125 hours inside the Mint, about half of their planned time in the Mint of 11 days. As a result, the total money printed was also less than the planned €2.4 billion, having printed €984 million. Raquel finds the Professor's hideout and she is tied up. While she is there, Ángel calls her phone, asking to speak with her in person. Raquel and the Professor kiss passionately and he lets her go. The police arrest her at the hospital moments after she tells Ángel that she knows where the Professor's hideout is, but will not tell them because she "does not know who the good guys are". Ángel is asked by Colonel Prieto where the Professor's hideout is, but he withholds the information. When Colonel Prieto threatens Raquel with several charges that would ensure her daughter taken away from her, she finally gives him the address of the hideout in order to have the charges dropped. The police race to the hideout. With the police inside the Mint, Berlin fights them off so the rest of the robbers can escape in time, although the Professor urges him to come. Berlin continues and is finally shot multiple times to death by the police. The robbers, with the addition of Mónica, escape successfully from the Mint, excluding the deceased Oslo, Moscow, and Berlin, through the tunnel, leading to the Professor's hideout minutes before the police show up. One year after the heist, it is reported that Raquel left the force, the robbers got away with over €1 billion and their whereabouts are still unknown. Raquel looks at some postcards given to her earlier by the Professor, which she notices has coordinates on them, and when pieced together give a location in Palawan, Philippines. She travels there and finds the Professor and smiles.

No.	Title	English title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date
'
16	"Hemos vuelto"	"We're Back"	Jesús Colmenar	Álex Pina, Javier Gómez Santander	19 July 2019 (2019-07-19)
Over two years after the heist, Arturo gives a talk to a large crowd condemning the fugitive members of the gang who held him and others hostage at the Mint as "terrorists". Meanwhile, Tokyo and Rio have relocated to Guna Yala, Panama, Nairobi and Helsinki to Las Palmas, Argentina, and Denver, Mónica and her baby to Java, Indonesia. Wanting a change of scenery, Tokyo leaves Rio in Guna Yala for the city. As she leaves, Rio gives her one of two phones so they can still communicate, phones which he bought on the black market in Casablanca from a Libyan claiming to be unregistered. Three days later, the two use the phones, and their signal is immediately detected by Interpol. The Panamanian police trap and arrest Rio, but Tokyo escapes. She calls the Professor using a secure line, and is transported to Thailand where they meet. Meanwhile, Rio is tortured. The Professor, alongside Raquel, gets the gang back together to rescue Rio. The professor enlists three new members into the gang and begins planning an assault on the Bank of Spain.
17	"Aikido"	"Aikido"	Jesús Colmenar	Álex Pina, Javier Gómez Santander, Juan Salvador López, Luis Moya, Alberto Úcar, David Barrocal	19 July 2019 (2019-07-19)
18	"48 metros bajo el suelo"	"48 Meters Underground"	Jesús Colmenar	Alex Pina, Javier Gómez Santander, Juan Salvador López, Luis Moya	19 July 2019 (2019-07-19)
19	"Bum, bum, ciao"	"Boom, Boom, Ciao"	Unknown	Unknown	19 July 2019 (2019-07-19)
20	"Las cajas rojas"	"The Red Boxes"	Unknown	Unknown	19 July 2019 (2019-07-19)
21	"Todo pareció insignificante"	"Everything Seemed Insignificant"	Unknown	Unknown	19 July 2019 (2019-07-19)
22	"Pequeñas vacaciones"	"A Quick Vacation"	Unknown	Unknown	19 July 2019 (2019-07-19)
23	"La deriva"	"Astray"	Unknown	Unknown	19 July 2019 (2019-07-19)

Production

Location

The Spanish National Research Council headquarters, the principal filming location of part 1 and 2 of Money Heist

The Nuevos Ministerios, the principal filming location of part 3 of Money Heist

Although the storyline of the first two parts is set at the Royal Mint of Spain, the series was filmed at the Spanish National Research Council headquarters, which bears a passing resemblance to the mint in Madrid. A similar situation occurred in the third part, which consisted of a robbery in the Bank of Spain, although the series was filmed at the government complex of Nuevos Ministerios.

Music

The Italian anti-fascist song "Bella ciao" is sung multiple times throughout the series. The character Tokyo recounts in one of her narrations, "The life of the Professor revolved around a single idea: Resistance. His grandfather, who had fought against the fascists in Italy, taught him the song and he taught us." The song is also played in other emblematic moments, such as when the thieves succeed in their escape out of the Mint—a metaphor for freedom.

Because of the popularity of the series, a version of "Bella ciao" interpreted by El Profesor and Berlin (two of the main characters in the series) charted in France, debuting at number five in May 2018 on the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique (SNEP), the official French singles chart. A remixed version of the same song by Hugel had peaked on the SNEP at number 16 in April 2018, as well as reaching number two on the German GfK Entertainment Charts. Other versions charting in France include one by The Bear, which reached number 45, a version by Sound of Legend that reached number 34, and one by Manu Pilas that reached number 27. The rapper Rémy sampled on the song adding French rapping verses. This version reached number 66 on the French chart. A revamped version with new lyrics in French, only keeping a few lines in Italian, was released by Maître Gims, Vitaa, Dadju, Slimane and Naestro in May 2018.

Release

Original broadcast

Money Heist debuted on Antena 3 on 2 May 2017, with the first part running in nine episodes, until 27 June. A second part of six episodes aired between 16 October and 23 November.

Netflix acquisition

In late 2017, Netflix acquired the rights to stream the series and distributed the first part through their streaming service worldwide. However, instead of retaining the original number of nine episodes and the 70 minute run-time of each episode in the season, it was cut into 13 different untitled episodes, each being 41–55 minutes in length. Netflix released the second part worldwide on 6 April 2018, with the same edits made to the episodes as in the first part—six episodes cut into nine. On 18 April 2018, Netflix renewed the series for a third part, which was released on 19 July 2019.

Reception

Netflix announced in its first quarterly report of 2018 that Money Heist was the most-watched non-English language series ever on their streaming service.

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nomination	Result
2018	46th International Emmy Awards	Best Drama Series	Money Heist	Won

External links

• Official website
• Money Heist at IMDb