The House of Paper is a Spanish television series that, since its appearance on the screens in 2017, has enshrined a huge success and interest of the public first in Spain and, later, throughout the rest of Europe. Full of twists, actions and intrigue, the production has managed, year after year, to keep the attention of the public high and be, season after season, the most popular series of the moment. Discover in this article by Libero Tecnologia everything you need to know about La Casa di Carta, the suspenseful TV series that has conquered all of Europe.
Series plot and characters
The House of Paper
The House of Paper tells the story of a group of robbers who want to carry out an ambitious plan, designed in detail: to break into the Spanish State Mint in Madrid, the Fabrica Nacional de Moneda y Timbre, print millions and millions of banknotes and escape with the loot.
The creator of this unique heist is an extremely intelligent man known as the Professor. After spending years planning what will be the greatest heist in history, establishing rules and evaluating every step, the Professor carefully selects eight individuals who will serve his purpose and who, because of their social backgrounds and criminal records, have nothing to lose.
Each member of the gang, being forbidden to reveal their identity, is assigned the name of a city: Tokyo, Moscow, Berlin, Nairobi, Rio, Helsinki, Oslo and Denver. Throughout the duration of the heist, each member, aside from the Professor, will act wearing a red jumpsuit and a mask of the Spanish painter Salvador Dali.
While the first season of the series focused on the State Mint heist, the second focuses on an even more ambitious heist, enacted to save a member of the gang. After months of planning, the gang will infiltrate the Madrid headquarters of the Banco de España. This time, in addition to saving their comrade, the purpose of the heist will be: to steal all of Spain's gold reserve.
The third and final season chronicles all of the difficulties and vicissitudes that the characters will encounter on the way to successfully pull off the heist and escape the bank. Along the way, there will be numerous losses, both on the part of the robbers and on the part of the forces of law and order, but in the end, the Professor will once again manage to surprise everyone with an unexpected twist.
The House of Paper: cast and main character characteristics
Sergio Marquina aka The Professor, played by Alvaro Morte: To all intents and purposes the mastermind who devised the plan and who guides, step by step, the gang during the robberies. No documents, no criminal record, he has spent his life perfecting the State Mint heist, initially conceived by his father, who died during a robbery.
Andrés de Fonollosa aka Berlin, played by Pedro Alonso. Inserted by the professor as the operational commander of the plan, he is an experienced robber with a strong sense of honor and a strong personality that allows him to keep his cool even in the most difficult situations.
Silene Oliveira aka Tokyo, played by Ursula Corberò. Narrator voice of the series, she joins the gang after completing 15 perfect robberies with her first love. A complicated and multifaceted character who, with his strong and impulsive character, often puts the plan at risk.
Anìbal Cortés aka Rio, played by Miguel Herràn. A boy in his early twenties, known as a computer programmer and alarm expert since the age of 6. His role during the robbery is to take care of technical problems.
Augustìn Ramos aka Moscow, played by Paco Tous. A former miner in Asturias, he realizes one fine day that digging to steal would have earned him much more. In fact, before the big job, he pulls off several heists: 6 furrieries, 3 watch shops and the Savings Bank of Avilés.
Daniel Ramos aka Denver, played by Jaime Lorente. The son of Mosca, he is a boy who grew up practically alone, without much education and following in his father's footsteps on the path to crime. Impulsivo ed irascibile, prima della rapina era uno spacciatore, considerato il re delle risse da discoteca.
Agata Jimenez alias Nairobi, interpretata da Alba Flores. Spacciatrice e nota falsaria da quando aveva 13 anni, è un personaggio forte e determinato dal carattere forte e deciso. Ha un figlio non riconosciuto di nome Axel a cui vorrebbe donare tutti i soldi guadagnati dalla rapina.
Mirko Dragic alias Helsinki, interpretato da Drako Peric. Un ex militare serbo omosessuale è un orso dall’animo gentile con spiccate conoscenze mediche ottenute dalle esperienze passate sul campo di battaglia.
Radko Dragic alias Oslo, interpretato da Roberto Garcìa Ruiz. Cugino di Helsinki, anche lui è un ex militare dal grandissimo sangue freddo, fedelissimo a Berlino.
Altri personaggi importanti nella serie sono:
- L’ispettrice Raquel Murillo, interpretata da Itziar Ituño, che si occupa dei negoziati durante la rapina e diventa in seguito componente della banda prendendo il nome in codice di Lisbona;
- Monica Gaztambide alias Stoccolma, interpretata da Esther Acebo. Segretaria e amante di Arturo Roman, instaura una relazione sentimentale con Denver durante la rapina e, alla fine, entra a far parte della banda a tutti gli effetti;
- Arturo Roman, interpretato da Enrique Arce. Direttore della Zecca di Stato, è un vigliacco che cerca di manipolare gli altri per i suoi interessi personali.
Durante le stagioni gli attori che hanno ruoli importanti all’interno della Casa di Carta sono:
- Hovik Keuchkerian nel ruolo di Bogotà, un saldatore e rapinatore professionista;
- Rodrigo de la Serna nel ruolo di Palermo, amico intimo di Berlino e capo operativo durante la rapina al Banco de España;
- Najwa Nimri nel ruolo della spietata ispettrice della polizia Alicia Sierra;
- Luka Peroš nel ruolo di Marsiglia, un ex soldato estremamente animalista che agisce dall’esterno per aiutare il Professore;
- Belén Cuesta nel ruolo di Manila, una giovane transessuale figlioccia di Mosca e amica fin dall’infanzia di Denver, di cui da sempre è innamorata;
- José Manuel Poga nel ruolo di César Gandìa, capo della sicurezza del Banco de España,
- Patrick Criado nel ruolo di Rafael, ex studente di ingegneria informatica, figlio di Berlino e nipote del Professore.
La Casa di Carta: stagioni ed episodi
La domanda “Quante stagioni ha La Casa di Carta?” è un po’ ostica, in quanto ognuno dà, erroneamente, una spiegazione diversa. In fact, originally, the first season created by Alex Pina for the Spanish broadcaster Antena 3 was composed of 15 episodes, 70/75 minutes each and was aired divided into two parts. The first part, consisting of nine episodes, aired on the Spanish channel from May 2 to June 27, 2017, and from October 16 to November 23, 2017, the second part of La Casa de Papel, consisting of six episodes, was released.
However, when the product passed into the hands of global streaming platform Netflix under the name Money Heist (in Italian, Casa di Carta), its circulation underwent a drastic change. In fact, the streaming giant decided to restructure the length of the episodes, bringing them from 70 to about 40 minutes, but still maintaining the division into two parts.
In this way, on December 20, 2017 La Casa di Carta Part 1 was released on the streaming platform, composed of 13 episodes that correspond to the 9 episodes of the first tranche aired on Antena 3. The remaining six episodes aired by the Spanish broadcaster will go on to form the second part of La Casa di Carta, which on Netflix will be composed of 9 episodes.
From the second season on, production and broadcasting has passed entirely into the hands of Netflix which, true to the two-part split, will release the first 8 episodes in July 2019 and the remaining 8 in April 2020.
The third and final season of La Casa di Carta is composed of 10 episodes in total. The first five have been available on the streaming platform since September 3, 2021, while the last 5 episodes were uploaded on December 3, 2021. In summary then, there are three seasons of the series, however, each season is divided into two parts, for a total of 48 episodes.
Recognition and following
The House of Paper has found not only the favor of the public, but also the compliments of critics, earning several awards and accolades. 2017 brought the series three major awards: Best Director and Best Drama (from critics) at the FesTVal of Television and Radios of Victoria and the Iris Award for Best Screenplay. While two awards came in 2018: Audience Award for Best Spanish Series at Fotogramas de Plata and the International Emmy Award for Best Drama Series.
Buoyed by the great success of the series, Netflix recently announced the release of a spin-off, entirely focused on the character of Berlin, which is expected to debut in 2023, along with a Korean remake of the series with actor Park Hae-soo, star of the series Squid Game, as Berlin.