Someone Has to Die


Someone Has to Die is a Spanish-Mexican thriller television limited series created by Manolo Caro, creator of the Netflix series The [House of Flowers (TV series)|The House of Flowers]. The series takes place in 1950s Spain and consists of three episodes revolving around a conservative and traditional society during the Franco regime "where appearances and family ties play a key role". The series features an all-star cast, including Carmen Maura and Caro regular Cecilia Suárez. All three episodes were released simultaneously by Netflix on October 16, 2020.

Synopsis

A young man is recalled to Spain from Mexico by his wealthy family after a 10-year absence as they have found a suitable young woman for him to marry. However, he brings a male ballet dancer with him, sending shockwaves through his conservative town.

Cast

An extensive cast list was published in October 2019 by Cosmopolitan.

Production

After his successful Netflix series The House of Flowers, Caro was signed to an exclusive deal with the streaming company, and began production on a new three-part miniseries, Someone Has to Die. As well as co-producing and directing, Caro co-wrote the show with Fernando Pérez and Monika Revilla; Caro's production company, Noc Noc Cinema, is credited as the main production company on the show. The show deals with themes of homophobia, conservatism, family, and change against a backdrop of 1950s Spain.
The show is Caro's first work entirely made in Spain, and his first non-comedic work. Some parts of the second season of The House of Flowers had been set in Spain, with Manuel Betancourt of Remezcla suggesting that the country had become his "latest muse". The show began filming in Madrid on 23 October 2019.
Caro has called the cast of the show "a dream"; he had worked with several of them before: Suárez is his constant collaborator and Casanova was in the Spanish scenes of The House of Flowers. Betancourt wrote that the inclusion of "Pedro Almodóvar's OG muse" in Maura made the series a "must-see event". Maura had visited Caro and Suárez while they were filming in Madrid for The House of Flowers in February 2019 to discuss the show. It is the first acting role for Mexican ballet dancer Hernández, who is "considered one of the best dancers in the world". John Hopewell of Variety wrote that, by putting actors like Maura and Suárez together, Caro was "furthering Spanish-language star system".