Greatest heist in history ends with a bang

CEBU, Philippines —  Álvaro Morte, he who gave life to The Professor phenomenon, thinks the creators behind “Money Heist” (La Casa de Papel) can still squeeze dry the characters in the hit series, if they must.

But after over 2,000 minutes of fiction with two heists throughout five seasons, the actor and the show’s producers believe now is a good time to stop.

“It’s the perfect time. We’ve taken the best from the characters and I think it’s a really smart decision to end here,” says Morte during a virtual press conference. “It’s also a way of giving fans what they deserve. We could have squeezed it more but we would have been running the risk of everything coming to shambles. So leaving at the peak is a present that we give to our fans.”

Showrunner and executive producer Álex Pina agrees, stating in a press dossier that they’ve exhausted the characters’ emotional arcs and transformations. Director and executive producer Jesús Colmenar also noted how there are many examples of shows that dragged on too long. When a series is at the peak of its success, it’s wiser to go out with a bang.

After the very impactful finale of Volume 1 of Season 5, the highly-anticipated conclusion to one of the most popular non-English series on Netflix is now streaming. Will the gang achieve their goal and take the gold out of the Bank of Spain? And how they will recover from the loss of Tokyo?

In the last five episodes of “Money Heist”, the gang has been shut in the Bank of Spain for over 100 hours. They have managed to rescue Lisbon, but their darkest moment is upon them after losing one of their own. The Professor has been captured by Sierra and, for the first time, doesn’t have an escape plan.

Just when it seems like nothing else could go wrong, an enemy comes on the scene that is much more powerful than any they’ve faced: the army. It’s the end of the greatest heist in history, and what began as a robbery will turn into a war.

Joining Morte in the cast are Itziar Ituño, Pedro Alonso (whose character Berlin will have a spin-off series that’s coming in 2023), Miguel Herrán, Jaime Lorente, Esther Acebo, Enrique Arce, Darko Peric, Hovik Keuchkerian, Luka Peros, Belén Cuesta, Rodrigo de la Serna and Najwa Nimri.

While writing Part 5 in the midst of the pandemic, Pina and the rest in the production decided to work in an extremely aggressive genre, putting The Gang on the ropes. Volume 2 focuses more on the emotional situation of the characters.

“The first one was emotional but the second volume is where we link everyone together. We went backwards, forward, put all the pieces of the puzzle together. We’ve added some emotional parts to the characters, somehow closing the circle of who these characters are and giving the answers to help understand the whole universe of ‘Money Heist,’” says Pina, adding that the pandemic-induced confinement made it even more mentally tiring to write.

Colmenar points out how the first volume of Season 5 was pure adrenalin, action-loaded and one of the most “brutal experiences”, both for the cast and the crew. “And now even if this is a more emotional volume, it’s full of adrenaline still and with unexpected twists and turns. It has a different pace. It’s not such a war-like confrontation.”

Scriptwriter Esther Martínez-Lobato calls the death of Ursula Corbero’s Tokyo as a watershed moment of the final season.

“It’s a ticking bomb really that changes the show radically and it does veer towards the end of the life of these characters who have co-lived with their fans around the world. So these last chapters pay homage to all of these characters,” she says. “The structure and the content are very interesting. They all find room in this final volume to show a bit of their heart and soul. They’re all super exciting. I’m sure cardiologists will be happy to see less action.”

Morte could only describe his last day of shooting for as “beautiful” not only because he worked with the same team during his very first day as The Professor, but also because it reminded him of being gifted this second chance to suit up as the character and return to the “Money Heist” family that he already bid farewell after two seasons – before Netflix introduced the Spanish series to the whole world.

As the genius mastermind behind the heists, Morte says something he really liked about the role was when he shows his humanity. “Because sometimes you think he’s a marvellous robot but then there are other times when I’m interpreting him, I’m able to connect with that humane side of him – I love that. That requires making mistakes,” says Morte. “The Professor is not perfect. Those cracks in the character are the ones I’m more excited about.”

On why he thinks the show created such a huge global following, Morte offers, “The mix of human quality and adrenaline create this emotional bond. At the same time it’s massively entertaining. The fact that they’re watching us in the Philippines and they’re going crazy in India – their fiction is so different from ours but they’re still super hooked to it.”

“I think it has something to do with the family of the characters, the brotherhood, the sisterhood,” shares Corbero. “There are different elements in the show that are universal and relatable and talks about things that go beyond borders.”