Miguel Bernardeau, the Mossos hero who experienced many traumas in ‘Terra Alta’

The starting point for this is crime police thriller created by Eligio R. Montero (‘Buñuel in the Turtle Maze’) It will be released in 2025He participated in the records of EL PERIÓDICO. But the story, as is usually the case in the author’s books, ‘Soldiers of Salamis’It hides more secrets than just finding the culprit of the murder.

“He talks about things like that pain, revenge, “everything that creates the violence and wounds that we deal with in the series,” comments Edward Cortés (“Merlí”, “Tell me who I am”), the director of this fiction two timelines: The protagonist’s present as a police officer in the Terra Alta region and his complicated past revealed in the form of ‘flashbacks’.

spent in prison

“Melchor Marin, my character had a life on the street and was in prison “for the drug trafficking issue. There he had a catharsis while reading ‘Les Misérables,’ learned that his mother had been murdered, and decided to start working as a police officer in part to find her killer; something that for some unknown reason no one wanted to investigate. Bernardeau approaches him.” Cambril attack“The place where he killed the terrorists was another important turning point in his life,” he adds.

After this traumatic event, a new phase begins in Terra Alta, where he manages to start a family with a woman slightly older than him (Martha Etura), with whom he bonded through his love of books. “Until a new murder comes back to haunt him,” Bernardeau says of a character he envisions the actor playing on the show.a little more empathetic “Melchior speaks very little in the book, and that was the case in the early scripts, but then people wouldn’t empathize with him,” he underlines.

This isn’t the only change the series has made to Cercas’ novel. The director emphasizes that the series “complements the book very well,” explaining, “When you adapt, it’s impossible not to change some things.”It could be very surprising For those who read and those who don’t.”

“The essence of the novel is there, as is the background of the protagonist and main characters, but the audiovisual and literary language are different, and we had to create the plot to adapt it to the medium,” he notes. Angela AgudoExecutive producer of ‘Terra Alta’.

Attack of the Cambrils

One scene that is not missing is, of course, the Cambril attack. “But this is also not a faithful copy, but rather a dramatic reconstruction of the events,” he emphasizes. Joan Benetcinematographer. Despite being set in a bright environment, the characters (especially the male ones) always move more in the shadows. “But everyone is hiding something,” says Benet.

Barcelona, ​​​​Sant Just Desvern, Sant Esteve Sesrovires, Sant Cugat del Vallès, Gandesa, Corbera d’Ebre and Tenerife Some of the places where this series, which he produced, was shot Sequoia Studios. However, although both the plot and the settings are mostly in Catalan, it was decided to ignore bilingualism and all dialogue is in Spanish.

“In Terra Alta, people don’t speak a bit of Catalan. They speak 100% Catalan. The average is very complicated in a place like this because Any attempt to mix Catalan with Spanish would be far from the truth. “Spanish was chosen here as a language that would somehow make it more global and less local,” notes the director Cortés.

An all-Catalan cast

Of course, the majority of the cast accompanying Bernardeau and Etura are Catalan. Goya Toledo. really? Ivan Massagué, Bea Segura, Pere Ponce, Pablo Derqui, Manel Barceló and Jordi Martínezin special collaboration Francis OrellaAccording to the director, he has a “very mysterious” character, which is the key piece that makes the whole mosaic fit together.

A mosaic that could continue to grow since Javier Cercas’s book was framed. trilogy who then completed the work ‘Independence’ and ‘Bluebeard’s Castle’so there’s a lot more threads to pull. “I hope the show works and we get more seasons,” the producer said.