General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20266 min read

El internado: Las Cumbres

El internado: Las Cumbres (also released internationally as The Boarding School: Las Cumbres) is a Spanish mystery, thriller, and horror television series produced by Atresmedia Studios (Buendía Estudios) and The Mediapro Studio for Amazon Prime Video, and a reboot of the successful Antena 3 series El Internado (2007–2010). It ran for three seasons and 22 episodes between 19 February 2021 and 7 April 2023.¹^•²

Key fact	Detail
Original run	19 February 2021 to 7 April 2023, on Amazon Prime Video; 3 seasons, 22 episodes²
Format	Drama, mystery, thriller, and horror; season 1 consists of 8 episodes of 50 minutes¹^•³
Creators	Laura Belloso and Asier Andueza; writing team included Sara Belloso and Abraham Sastre; directed by Denis Rovira van Boekholt¹^•⁴
Setting	A boarding school in an old monastery in an inaccessible place among mountains, housing rebellious students under strict discipline³
Main cast	Asia Ortega (Amaia), Albert Salazar (Paul), Claudia Riera (Inés), Joel Bosqued (León), Mina El Hammani (Elvira), Daniela Rubio (Adele), Paula del Río (Paz)²
Filming location	The Monasterio de Iratxe in Navarra, built in the second half of the 11th century⁵
Audience rating	6.5/10 on IMDb from about 2,800 user votes⁶

Spoilers

Premise

The series takes place in a boarding school isolated from the world and surrounded by countryside, located next to an old monastery in an inaccessible spot among mountains. The students are rebellious, troubled youths sent by their families to live under the strict, severe discipline the institution imposes to prepare them for reinsertion into society. The forest surrounding the school harbors old legends and threats that remain alive, drawing the students into frightening adventures.¹^•³

The disappearance of a student named Manu in strange circumstances is the starting point of the first season. A group of students follows a trail of clues that leads them to discover that the school is more than it appears: an old lodge that once inhabited the forest, the Nido del Cuervo (Raven's Nest), is still committing crimes.²^•⁷

Cast and characters

The student body is played by a young cast: Asia Ortega as Amaia, Albert Salazar as Paul, Carlos Alcaide, Daniela Rubio as Adele, Claudia Riera as Inés, Paula del Río as Paz, Gonzalo Díez, and Daniel Arias as Eric. The adult roles include Alberto Amarilla, Mina El Hammani as Elvira, and Joel Bosqued as León among the teachers, with veterans Natalia Dicenta as the school's director and Ramiro Blas as the investor Darío Mendoza.²^•¹^•¹⁹ The influencer Dulceida also made a cameo appearance.¹³

Relationship to the original series

El internado: Las Cumbres revives El internado: Laguna Negra, the mystery series that Antena 3 broadcast in seven seasons between 2007 and 2010 and that launched the careers of actors including Ana de Armas, Blanca Suárez, Yon González, and Martiño Rivas.²^•⁸ The reboot was developed by Laura Belloso, cocreator of the original, together with the writer Asier Andueza, who also worked on the earlier series.⁹ Belloso described the project as a reboot: the same concept used to make a completely different series, set in the same universe but with an entirely new cast, new characters, and a new location.⁹^•¹⁰

The connection to the original is deliberately light. In the opening episodes, Blanca Suárez and Yon González appear briefly as grown-up Julia and Iván, characters from Laguna Negra, giving a television interview about the events of that era and presenting a book about them. The creators called the cameo a gift to nostalgic fans and stated that the new series works fully independently, discarding any future argumental connection to the original.¹¹^•¹²

The setting was also changed to mark the difference. Where the original school was supposedly an elite private center for the best families, Las Cumbres is closer to a reform school, a harsher, more impenetrable, and more hostile place with what Belloso called terrible discipline.¹³^•¹⁴ Reviewers noted that the new series is darker and more sinister than its predecessor, leaning toward the horror genre.¹³

Production and release

Amazon Prime Video announced the series as an Amazon Exclusive produced by The Mediapro Studio and Atresmedia Studios, the owners of the format, who brought in Belloso, director Jesús Rodrigo, and Asier Andueza to develop a new mystery universe under the original concept.¹⁵^•¹² Denis Rovira van Boekholt is credited as director on the Buendía Estudios production page.¹ The first season premiered simultaneously in more than 200 countries and territories.⁹

The production was renewed for a second season before its premiere.⁴ The second season arrived on 1 April 2022.¹⁶ Belloso said early on that the ideal would be to tell the story in three seasons, planned as 24 chapters.¹⁷ The third and final season premiered on 7 April 2023, closing the mysteries that run through the school; it opens three months after the events that ended the second season with the death of Paz.²^•¹⁸

The principal filming location is the Monasterio de Iratxe in Navarra, a building constructed in the second half of the 11th century that served over its history as a pilgrims' hospital, a university, and a war hospital.⁵ Press coverage of the sets described the school's look as sometimes recalling Harry Potter and sometimes military architecture.⁸

Reception

Critical response to the first season was mixed. Spanish media quotes collected by the production company praised the production values, with Diario Página 12 calling its eight episodes confirmation of the high level of Spanish series production, and El Español writing that the spirit of El internado remained alive.¹ FormulaTV's review called it a good series playing against the comparison with the original, which its own executives had invited by keeping the brand.²⁰ EspinOf's reviewer found the first season far from memorable, criticizing the large number of thinly drawn characters, while acknowledging that the series grows more interesting as the episodes advance.²¹ On IMDb the series holds a 6.5/10 rating from about 2,800 votes, with individual episode scores generally between 6.7 and 7.8.⁶ A retrospective analysis of the final season described the series as a youth mystery with good suspense, hard to put down after the fourth episode even in its last run.²²

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › International serial drama and telenovelas › Telenovelas and Latin American/Iberian serials › Spanish serial dramas

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

Notice something wrong?