Spain attempts an encore: after La Casa di Carta, a new TV series is on its way that could be a hit
A mayor, a veterinarian and a bearded priest who no longer believes in anything, not even religion. This is the recipe on which the new TV series 30 Coins (30 monedas, 8 episodes of 60 minutes) produced by HBO Europe and presented out of competition at the Venice Film Biennale by director Álex de la Iglesia, known for the film Ballad of Hate and Love with which he won a Silver Lion and a Goya Award ten years ago.
30 Coins is a Spanish series, which will be distributed in 21 countries including Italy with the title 30 Coins. It relies on two characteristics, both very appreciated by the viewers in recent years: the horror genre and the Spanish production, like La Casa di Carta. It's hard to say if it will succeed in having the same success, but the elements to intrigue fans of TV series are all there. The eternal struggle between good and evil, around which 30 Coins also revolves, never goes out of fashion after all. As the name itself says, the whole story is connected to the famous 30 coins of Judas and his betrayal of Jesus. But the setting is contemporary: a small, quiet Spanish country village. As Spanish are the main performers: Eduard Fernández, Megan Montaner, Miguel Ángel Silvestre, Macarena Gómez, Pepón Nieto, Manolo Solo.
30 Coins, the plot
As far as we could see from the first trailer, 30 Coins tells the story of Padre Vergara, a former boxer, ex-exorcist, with a prison background who hides more than one secret and who, according to director de la Iglesias, is a kind of Rambo trying to escape from a past that no one knows.
At a certain point, strange things begin to happen in the village and the mayor Paco, whom de la Iglesias defines as "not very smart," helped by the veterinarian Elena, "beautiful but rough," set out to investigate. A cursed coin, however, distorts reality by complicating things. Central is the figure of Father Vergara, a little good and a little bad between blessings and gunshots.
TV series are better than cinema
Álex de la Iglesia, presenting 30 Coins at the Venice Film Festival, called the series one of his best works. But that's not all: he also said that nowadays we see more interesting and avant-garde things in streaming TV series than in cinema, "Spanish series like La Casa di Carta are having success and they like them everywhere, I hope that 30 Coins will have the same luck."