‘Money Heist’ lines up a new score while continuing to strike gold for Netflix nearly a decade after its debut

“The Money Heist universe continues.” With a mysterious teaser, Children of the Revolution playing in the background, the face of Álvaro Morte (The Professor), and that brief tagline, Netflix announced last May, capitalizing on the release of Berlin and the Lady with an Ermine, that its most successful Spanish franchise would continue to expand.At the time, however, although another unannounced spin-off was already in production, Netflix still had not revealed how or when that expansion would take shape. The only thing that seemed clear was that the algorithm was calling for another heist. Nearly a decade after its debut on the Spanish channel Antena 3, and almost five years after its finale, Money Heist is still one of the platform’s most-watched Spanish productions year after year. In fact, during the first six months of 2026, six of Netflix’s 11 most-watched Spanish seasons belonged to the franchise.Netflix’s viewing data for the first half of 2026 underscores the point. Buoyed by the second season of the prequel centered on the character Berlin, played by Pedro Alonso, which amassed 27.6 million views and ranked as the 23rd most-watched production worldwide, the first season of Money Heist became the fifth most-watched Spanish series of the year, with 8.8 million views (calculated by dividing hours viewed by total running time).It even outperformed new seasons of Alpha Males (7.5 million views) and Clans (6.4 million), as well as international releases such as the soap drama Sweet Magnolias season 5 (8.7 million), the animated spin-off Stranger Things: Tales of ’85 (8.3 million), and the British series How to Get to Heaven from Belfast (7.7 million).What’s more, seasons two, three, four and five of Money Heist also ranked fifth, seventh, 11th and 13th among the most-streamed Spanish series. The first season of Berlin came in tenth. The figures also highlight the relatively weak performance of Netflix’s more recent Spanish originals.The figures are even more significant given that Netflix tends to prioritize newer content. The Spanish series created by Álex Pina for Atresmedia, which premiered on free-to-air television in May 2017, has held up far better over time than many past hits. Squid Game, for example, the most-watched series in Netflix history during its first three months on the platform, drew just 5.4 million views this year for its most-watched season, while Lupin, France’s successful answer to the Spanish heist drama, recorded 4.7 million. Not even a global phenomenon like Wednesday, the second most-watched title in Netflix history, exceeded 7.6 million views in the first half of the year.The comparison is particularly striking because Money Heist had effectively come to an end after its first two parts aired on Antena 3. It was revived by word of mouth after arriving on Netflix and finding an audience in countries such as Brazil and Turkey. That success paved the way for a second heist, shifting the action from Spain’s Royal Mint to the Bank of Spain, as well as three additional seasons, a Korean remake and two Berlin spin-offs. Even the documentaries chronicling the franchise’s unlikely rise continue to attract hundreds of thousands of views every six months.It is therefore hardly surprising that Netflix is pressing ahead with the franchise, even if the company declined to comment when asked by EL PAÍS. In September, filming wrapped on Buscametales (Metal Detectors, the working title used during production), a four-episode spin-off that follows the hunt for the gold stolen and hidden by the gang.Fernando Cayo will reprise his role as Colonel Tamayo and, according to information obtained by EL PAÍS, will be joined by Javier Rey in a story that shifts the focus to the police. Filming took place in locations including Madrid and the Hoces del Duratón natural park in Segovia.There will also be a connection to The Professor, with Álvaro Morte returning to the franchise after the teaser released in May and a brief cameo in Berlin. The character appears set to become the narrative thread linking the various productions, as speculation grows about an increasingly likely sixth season of Money Heist. Netflix declined to confirm any of this information to EL PAÍS.The release of those new series is also likely to breathe new life into earlier installments of the franchise, regardless of whether they can match the success of the original. (The audience for Berlin, for example, halved between its first and second seasons.) It is a familiar strategy for long-running franchises that continue to perform strongly on streaming platforms, as seen with The Big Bang Theory and Dexter.Money Heist, for example, continues to deliver steady viewership. In 2025, its first season was the ninth most-watched Spanish series on Netflix, attracting another 14.4 million views, comfortably ahead of newer releases such as Valeria season four (12.8 million), Alpha Males season three (10.7 million), City of Shadows (10.2 million) and Legacy (8.2 million), as well as underperformers such as Breathless season two (8.1 million) and the much-hyped Superestar (500,000 viewers).To put that into perspective, Animal, one of Netflix’s biggest hits that year, recorded 14.8 million views. And Money Heist had already notched up another 9.4 million views in the second half of 2024, when Berlin premiered and became the ninth most-watched series worldwide.All of this comes on top of the show’s extraordinary original run. The three seasons produced by Netflix between 2019 and 2021 are still among the most-watched non-English-language series in the platform’s history. Season four ranks fourth overall, season five sits in sixth place and season three remains seventh.Thanks to the momentum generated by Money Heist, writer Álex Pina signed a lucrative exclusive deal in 2018 between his production company, Vancouver, and Netflix. But outside his flagship franchise, he has struggled to replicate its success. In 2020, White Lines failed to win over English-speaking audiences and was cancelled after a single season. Sky Rojo lasted two seasons but made little impact, while also attracting criticism over its portrayal of prostitution. And the big-budget The Atomic Shelter ended after just one season, despite being billed as the most ambitious series ever produced in Spain. That was not so much because of weak viewing figures; it attracted 28.2 million views, as because of inflated expectations and poor reviews.Pina is currently writing a new project unrelated to his best-known franchise and, barring further delays caused by the extensive rewrites for which he is known, is expected to begin filming in early 2027.As Bella Ciao echoes louder than ever at street festivals and in social movements such as the campaign for affordable housing, Netflix will continue to capitalize on a franchise that remains as relevant as ever and will celebrate its tenth anniversary next May. By then, the platform is likely to have extracted as much value as possible from the gold it stole from traditional television.Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition