There’s ambition, and then there’s making a 13-episode series out of Green Eggs And Ham. Netflix is officially off its rocker, throwing bags of cash at the wildest and most sprawling projects, from a multi-pronged Narnia endeavor to a Roald Dahl extended universe. If Terry Gilliam hadn’t finally finished The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, it’s very likely Netflix would’ve found a place for it. Instead, they’re throwing their weight behind a different kind of literary juggernaut in Nobel prize-winning author Gabriel García Márquez, whose One Hundred Years of Solitude is soon to be a Spanish-language series on the streamer.
One Hundred Years Of Solitude was first published in 1967, its story of the Buendía family and the fictional Colombian town of Macondo serving as a vehicle for the author’s vibrant use of magical realism. Per Márquez’s request, the novel was never allowed to be optioned, as the author didn’t think a feature film could contain his epic, generation-spanning tale.
Now, his sons, Rodrigo Garcia and Gonzalo Garcia Barcha, are set to executive produce the series, which will be shot in Colombia. “For decades our father was reluctant to sell the film rights to Cien Años de Soledad because he believed that it could not be made under the time constraints of a feature film, or that producing it in a language other than Spanish would not do it justice,” Rodrigo said in a statement. “But in the current golden age of series, with the level of talented writing and directing, the cinematic quality of content, and the acceptance by worldwide audiences of programs in foreign languages, the time could not be better to bring an adaptation to the extraordinary global viewership that Netflix provides. We are excited to support Netflix and the filmmakers in this venture, and eager to see the final product.”
The project was likely encouraged by the acclaim and awards garnered by Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma, which demonstrated that Netflix’s audience is hungry for smart, evocative Spanish-language content. The streamer will launch a production hub in Madrid, Spain next month.