Money Heist is a global phenomenon today. Butwhat if I tell you it was a complete washout when it first debuted on screens?Money Heist is a show resurrected completely by fans. After Netflix acquiredit, the streaming service infused new life into the show that initially couldnot go beyond its borders.
The show climbed in popularity to becomeNetflix's #1 show in many international markets and to rank in the top ten innearly every global market. In April 2020, it was Netflix's most in-demandseries. And with that came the announcement that Netflix would be producing newseasons and a whole new heist, this one even bigger than the first. So far, twonew blocks of episodes have dropped, with another on the way. While the chessgame unfolding between the thieves and the authorities has captivated theworld, the behind-the-scenes story is almost as captivating.
Originally conceived as a limited-run series,Money Heist premiered to over four million viewers on the Spanish networkAntena 3 as Casa de Papel (House of Paper). It sustained those numbers for thenext few episodes, but then viewership plummeted. According to Money Heist headwriter and producer Javier Gómez Santander, "Contrary to what it seems,the life of the series is a story of failure, Antena 3 cut the number ofplanned chapters." It was eventually canceled, and that would have beenthe end of the story.
Netflix picked up the show but without muchfanfare. It kept it as just another of its properties without promotion orattention. The cast and creative team began looking for other jobs whensuddenly, they started noticing their social media numbers increasing rapidly.On Netflix, Case de Papel, renamed Money Heist, had been explodinginternationally, and seemingly overnight, the Spanish "failure" hadbecome a global hit. Netflix quickly signed series creator Álex Pina to awider deal and brought the gang back for another heist.
As mentioned above, Netflix is the key tothis story of a hit series rising from the ashes. Shows have come back from thedead, some due to popularity found in syndication, others after being releasedon DVD. These other series were saved by faithful fans, but most of them costmore than $2, which was what Netflix paid for the rights to Money Heist.