With the help of Javier Olivares (Isabel, El Ministerio del Tiempo), the Globomedia production company will adapt the novel Yo, el Rey, by Pilar Eyre, in a three-season series that is already being called “the Spanish The Crown.”
After the scandalous events carried out by the emeritus king Juan Carlos I, the first Spanish king to abdicate the throne, in the last year there have been several announcements of audiovisual productions focused on him in Spain.
On the one hand, Mediaset España and Unicorn Content are preparing a six-part docuseries that “will address his personal, emotional and political life from his childhood to the present day.” Newtral and Exile Content, meanwhile, announced the docuseries Una familia real, which “focuses on the succession and reign of Juan Carlos I.”
And in the field of television fiction, The Story Lab and Weekend Studio are adapting the XRey podcast; and Mediaset España and Mandarina Producciones announced The Emeritus, which will narrate the last years of his reign and his abdication.
And now, Globomedia, producer of The Mediapro Studio, has released the third fiction series in development focused on the controversial character. Titled El Rey, it will be based on the novel Yo, el Rey, written by Pilar Eyre and published in 2020 by La Esfera de los Libros.
The announcement was made through an interview by the newspaper El País with Javier Olivares, historian and showrunner of series such as Isabel, El Ministerio del Tiempo or Catch a thief and the new series, and Javier Pons, co-director of Television of The Mediapro Studio and director of Globomedia.
As they explained, the idea of the series emerged years ago as a story centered on the decline of Juan Carlos I, but the publication of the book broadened its ambitions. “I found in its pages a gold mine, a narrative jewel”, confesses Olivares.
The result: a drama composed of three seasons of between 10 and 12 episodes each.
In the words of the screenwriter, the first act will narrate “an ascent that was very hard”; the second, “a boom in which all Spaniards were Juan-Carlists”; and the third, “a final shock, when verifying what we did not want to see.”
The King will not be a one-character series. “The intention is to show how the characters lead us to these historical events and include all the points of view so that the viewer can choose theirs,” said Olivares.
As expected, the series has quickly been dubbed “The Spanish Crown”, and even the production company itself echoed it.
The casting or screen for the new fiction is not yet known.
