This year marks a promising chapter in the adaptation of Latin American literary classics as Netflix is bringing three iconic stories from the region – One Hundred Years of Solitude, Pedro Paramo, and The Eternaut – to their platform.
Whether in series or movie format, Netflix is fulfilling the dream of many Latinos who have waited decades to see their favorite books brought to the screen. From Macondo to Comala, here are the latest details on the adaptations coming to the streamer in the coming months.
One Hundred Years of Solitude (Netflix Series)
Attention, admirers of Gabo and Macondo: the first audiovisual adaptation of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s mythical book One Hundred Years of Solitude will premiere on Netflix in 2024! More than fifty years after the original edition premiered in 1967, the streaming service will turn one of the most famous and influential Latin American works into an original series in Spanish.
As we remember, this project was first announced in March 2019 and since then it has been developed in collaboration with the sons of the Nobel Prize in Literature, Rodrigo and Gonzalo García, who have served as executive producers. All filming has been done in Colombia, with Latin talent filming the 16-episode season.
On Netflix or not, One Hundred Years of Solitude is the story of both the mythical Colombian town of Macondo and its founders, the unforgettable and incestuous Buendía clan. The novel follows seven generations of the family as they contemplate the rise and fall of everything they know and love. As the title predicts, the book examines themes such as the impact of loneliness and the circularity of time. Since its publication, it has been translated into more than 45 languages, and tens of millions of copies have been sold.
The series, handled by Dynamo Producciones, is co-directed by Argentina’s Alex García López (The Witcher, Utopía, Daredevil, and The Acolyte) and Colombia’s Laura Mora (Matar a Jesús and Los reyes del mundo). Eugenio Caballero, Oscar winner for El laberinto del fauno, is in charge of production design.
Pedro Páramo (Netflix Film)
In 2021 and as part of the #QueMéxicoSeVea initiative, Netflix announced the film adaptation of one of the most emblematic titles of Mexican literature and magical realism, Pedro Páramo by Juan Rulfo. Two years later, in May 2023, the streaming platform started shooting the ambitious feature film, which constitutes the third reimagination of the work.
Often considered Mexico’s most significant novel, Pedro Páramo is a rural tale in which the dead have much to say. The novel is set during the Cristero War and essentially presents two plots: The first focuses on Juan Preciado’s immediate past, his arrival in ghostly Comala and his search for his father, a certain Pedro Páramo. And the second, focuses on Pedro’s life, his youth, his rise as a cacique, and his worst and darkest impulses. As the past is interwoven into the present, Juan Preciado learns the tragic truth behind his father and Comala, a region perched on the “burning embers of the earth, at the very mouth of Hell.”
To date, the text has been translated into more than 30 languages and has been adapted into several films (Carlos Velo 1967, José Bolaños 1978). On more than one occasion, García Márquez would admit that without reading Pedro Páramo, he would not have been able to write One Hundred Years of Solitude.
In this upcoming adaptation, veteran Mexican cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto sits in the director’s chair for the first time. Prieto, 58, is no stranger to Hollywood having worked on titles such as Brokeback Mountain, Silence, The Irishman, and Killers of the Flower Moon, which earned him his four Oscar nominations for Best Cinematography.
Leading the cast are the always talented Manuel García-Rulfo (The Lincoln Lawyer) and Tenoch Huerta (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever), as Pedro Páramo and Juan Preciado respectively. The haunting film is scheduled to hit the platform this year, but the exact date is still unknown.
The Eternaut (Netflix Limited Series)
Ready or not, the iconic Argentine science fiction comic book The Eternaut is making the leap to live action and coming to the small screen for the first time. Back in February 2020, the streamer announced that the adaptation project would be developed by renowned director Bruno Stagnaro (Un gallo para Esculapio, Okupas), with Martín M. Oesterheld as creative consultant.
First published in 1957 in the Argentine magazine Hora Cero Semanal, The Eternaut is a story of survival. Set in Buenos Aires, the narrative follows the comings and goings of the unlikely hero, Juan Salvo (played by megastar Ricardo Darin), and a brave group of fighters as they confront an alien invasion. In this emblematic comic book, a radioactive snowstorm annihilates a large part of the population and the human resistance must fiercely persevere. With a script by the revolutionary Héctor Germán Oesterheld and illustrations by Francisco Solano López, The Eternaut ingeniously mixes science fiction, politics, and popular resistance.
Currently in post-production, the six-episode series is a contemporary version of Oesterheld’s original story. Behind this ambitious project is K&S Films, one of the largest Latin American production companies, responsible for award-winning feature films such as Relatos Salvajes, El Clan, El Ángel, and Acusada, among others. Still, without a release date in the Netflix catalog, it is expected to debut in the second half of this year; more than six decades after its release, The Eternaut continues to captivate readers around the world and inspire new writers.
