General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

Someone Has To Die

Someone Has To Die (Alguien tiene que morir) is a three-episode Spanish-language thriller miniseries created, directed, and co-written by the Mexican filmmaker Manolo Caro for Netflix, released globally on October 16, 2020. A co-production between Spain and Mexico, it is set in 1950s Spain under the Franco dictatorship and follows the upheaval caused when a young man returns from Mexico accompanied by a male ballet dancer.¹^•²

Key fact	Detail
Original title	Alguien tiene que morir; the English title is a direct translation²
Format	Limited series, 3 episodes of about 50 minutes each³
Release	Netflix, worldwide, October 16, 2020³
Creator	Manolo Caro, creator of La casa de las flores (The House of Flowers); co-writers Fernando Pérez and Monika Revilla¹
Setting	Conservative 1950s Spain under Franco, centered on the wealthy Falcón family of Madrid⁴
Lead cast	Carmen Maura, Cecilia Suárez, Ernesto Alterio, Alejandro Speitzer, Ester Expósito, Carlos Cuevas, Isaac Hernández¹
Production	Noc Noc Cinema; Netflix (Spain/Mexico); filmed in Madrid and province, Toledo, and Segovia¹^•³

Spoilers

Premise and plot

The story begins when Gabino Falcón (Alejandro Speitzer), the youngest member of a wealthy Madrid family, is summoned home after a decade in Mexico to meet his arranged fiancée, Cayetana Aldama (Ester Expósito). To the family's alarm he arrives with Lázaro (Isaac Hernández), a Mexican ballet dancer with whom he shares a close bond, and those around Gabino begin questioning the nature of their friendship.¹^•⁵

The household into which he returns is oppressive. His grandmother Amparo (Carmen Maura) rules the home through fear; his father Gregorio (Ernesto Alterio) holds a position in the dictatorship's administration and, according to one review, is in charge of incarcerating and torturing homosexuals in his district; his mother Mina (Cecilia Suárez) is so cowed that she has lost her natural Mexican accent.⁴^•⁶ The suspicion that falls on Gabino and Lázaro lets the series address the racism and classism of a society that considered itself privileged, as well as the homophobia of an era in which homosexuality was a crime punishable by imprisonment or worse, and in which society often condemned the accused before the authorities acted.⁴

The three episodes are titled after the stages of a pigeon shoot: "Soltar la presa" (Release the Prey), "Tomar puntería" (Take Aim), and "Apretar el gatillo" (Pull the Trigger). In the first, Gabino discovers he is expected to marry Cayetana; in the second, Cayetana fuels rumors about Gabino and Lázaro's alleged relationship while Mina tries to help them escape; in the third, Amparo and Gregorio take extreme measures to quell the scandal, and long-hidden truths turn the Falcón family members against each other.⁷^•⁵

Production

The project grew out of Caro's relationship with Netflix. After the international success of La casa de las flores, which premiered in 2018, Netflix signed him to a multi-year overall deal in May 2019, making him the second showrunner from Spain or Latin America, after Money Heist's Alex Pina, to sign such a pact; Alguien tiene que morir was the first project under the agreement.⁸^•⁹

Format as an accident. Caro said the three-episode shape was not planned. He had written the story as a feature film and saw no way to stretch it into eight or ten episodes; inspired by the three-part British miniseries A Very English Scandal, he realized he could fragment the screenplay into three movements.⁷ He described the result as "the dark cousin of La casa de las flores", his first project in Spain and his first outside comedy.⁷^•¹

The cast was about 90 percent Spanish, and Caro worked with a team of historians alongside his co-writers.¹⁰^•¹¹ Filming took place in Madrid and its province, including Alcobendas, El Escorial, Hoyo de Manzanares, and Galapagar, as well as Toledo and Segovia.³

Reception

The series reached number one on Netflix's most-viewed list shortly after release.⁷ Critical response was mixed. Reviewers consistently praised the cast and the series' themes: the Cinema Express review called it an "absorbingly disturbing watch" for its unflinching depiction of the persecution of the LGBTQ+ community and of violence against political prisoners, and FormulaTV found that the first two episodes convey affliction, fear, and oppression effectively.⁶^•¹²

The most common criticism was the ending. Cinema Express wrote that the resolutions felt convenient and that abandoning a slow-burn narrative for a rushed approach weakened the finale; The Review Geek argued the series needed another couple of episodes to let the drama breathe; and Spanish outlets were cooler still, with HobbyConsolas judging it more a social-denunciation drama than a thriller and finding its historical reconstruction weak, and Los Interrogantes calling it a family drama poorly handled despite a cast of proven talent.⁶^•¹³^•¹⁴^•¹⁵ La Vanguardia took a middle view, describing the series as flawed but not a disaster, with appreciable elements that make it a good companion for a weekend afternoon.⁴

Place in Caro's career and Netflix's Spanish slate

The miniseries marked Caro's move from comedy into drama and thriller, and it formed part of Netflix's broader expansion of Spanish-language originals in the period that also included Money Heist and Élite. Caro later said the project mattered as part of a generation of creators "that makes the Spanish language travel around the world".⁹^•¹⁶

References

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