edgepedia

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

General · Edgepedia6 min read

The Longest Night

The Longest Night (La noche más larga) is a Spanish action thriller television series released on Netflix on 8 July 2022, in which armed men besiege a psychiatric prison on Christmas Eve to seize an incarcerated serial killer and the prison director refuses to hand him over.1 It was created by Víctor Sierra and Xosé Morais, the duo behind Néboa and Serramoura, and directed by Óscar Pedraza (Patria, Sky Rojo) and Moisés Ramos.1 • 2

Key factDetail
Original titleLa noche más larga (Spanish; worldwide English title The Longest Night)2
PremiereNetflix, 8 July 20222
FormatOne season of six episodes of roughly 43 to 49 minutes each, unfolding in real time over a single night2 • 3
SettingMonte Baruca, a psychiatric prison cut off from outside communications on 24 December1
Lead castAlberto Ammann as prison director Hugo and Luis Callejo as serial killer Simón Lago1
ProductionLazona Films for Netflix; filmed in Madrid and Aranjuez; score by Julio de la Rosa2
ReceptionIMDb rating 5.9 from about 3,600 votes; JustWatch user rating 65%4

Spoilers

Premise

The story begins on the night of 24 December, when a group of armed men surrounds the Monte Baruca psychiatric prison and cuts its communications with the outside world. Their objective is to capture Simón Lago (Luis Callejo), a dangerous serial killer held there. If the guards surrender him, the assault would end within minutes, but Hugo (Alberto Ammann), the prison's director, refuses to obey and prepares to resist. Netflix's own synopsis calls it the longest night for Hugo and everyone inside the prison.1

The siege grows more complicated as the night goes on. The kidnappers have taken the daughter of one of the prison workers, the inmates stop taking their medications, and the hired attackers face a cruel villain at the center of the plot.3 A network of power behind Simón's detention extends beyond the killer, the prison, and its director, so that surviving comes at the price of deception, drastic decisions, and killing.3

Structure and style

The six episodes take place in real time during a single night, a choice that the review site eldiario.es compared to the American series 24 for the way simultaneous events inside the psychiatric prison affect every character, though without that show's split screens.3 The Christmas Eve setting gives the story a distinct energy, although reviewers noted the series never explores it in depth.5

Pacing and action. Critics described the series as frenetic and adrenaline-driven. Espinof's reviewer wrote that threats are carried out rather than merely announced, which he found refreshing for the genre, but that the refusal to give the viewer any pause sometimes strains credibility, particularly in events inside the prison.5 HobbyConsolas rated the series 75 out of 100, praising the measured action scenes, which the actors said were shot with live fire and practical effects rather than added in post-production, and calling the visual production impeccable.6

Ensemble cast. Reviewers highlighted the large ensemble. HobbyConsolas singled out Luis Callejo, whose performance with a single glance conveys fear, and Bárbara Goenaga as Dr. Elisa Montero, torn between her partner and her patients, as well as Daniel Albaladejo's Cherokee, a character who shifts between tenderness and terror.6 The full cast also includes José Luis García Pérez as Lennon, Roberto Álamo as Ruso, Cecilia Freire as Manuela Muñoz, Xavier Deive as Bastos, Sabela Arán, Laia Manzanares, César Mateo, Lucía Díez, and David Solans.1 • 4

Production

Lazona Films produced the series for Netflix, with Gonzalo Salazar-Simpson, Xosé Morais, and Víctor Sierra as executive producers and a screenplay by Morais and Sierra.2 Filming took place in Madrid and Aranjuez.2 During shooting in June 2021 the project was known under the working title Baruca before the final title was announced.7 Julio de la Rosa composed the score, and Sergi Bartrolí and Curro Ferreira shared cinematography duties.2

Reception and aftermath

The series premiered as one of 15 Spanish fiction series that Netflix released in 2022, a record output for Spanish-language originals on the platform that year.8 Audience response was mixed: the series holds an IMDb rating of 5.9 from about 3,600 votes and a 65% JustWatch user rating.4

In a 2025 interview with El País, Diego Ávalos, vice president of Netflix Spain, named La noche más larga as the failure that had hurt him most. He said the series had every element he valued, strong scripts and production design and a concept that convinced him in seconds, but it did not connect with the audience he had expected, despite developing its own fandom.9 Reviewers had noted at release that the six episodes end without resolving the story, reading the season as the first half of a series whose continuation was not guaranteed.5 Episode listings record the series as canceled or ended after its single 2022 season.10

Other works with the same title

The English title The Longest Night corresponds to several unrelated Spanish-language works. A 1991 Spanish drama film La noche más larga, directed by José Luis García Sánchez and starring Juan Echanove, Carmen Conesa, and Gabino Diego, follows a lawyer defending a young man accused of killing a policeman; it is based on the novel El año en que murió Franco by the journalist Pedro J. Ramírez and premiered at the San Sebastián Film Festival in September 1991.11 • 12 A 2020 Argentine crime drama of the same title, written and directed by Moroco Colman and starring Daniel Aráoz, is inspired by the case of the most notorious serial rapist in Argentine history, who attacked more than 93 women in Córdoba between 1985 and 2004 while living as a devoted husband and father; it is based on the journalistic investigation by Dante Leguizamón and Claudio Glesser published as the book La Marca de la Bestia.13 A 2019 Mexican-Ecuadorian feature titled The Longest Night in English (La mala noche), directed by Gabriela Calvache, tells of an enslaved woman who must choose between her own freedom and rescuing a kidnapped girl.14

References

  1. Una noche, una prisión - Tráiler y póster oficial de La noche más larga, About Netflix
  2. La noche más larga / The Longest Night, Film Madrid, Series 2022 production sheet
  3. 'La noche más larga', el thriller carcelario de Netflix que convierte la Nochebuena en un infierno cautivador, elDiario.es
  4. La noche más larga (2022) - streaming tv series online, JustWatch
  5. 'La noche más larga' crítica, Espinof
  6. Crítica de La noche más larga, HobbyConsolas
  7. Nuevas imágenes de La noche más larga, laSexta
  8. Diez años de Netflix en España, El País
  9. Diego Ávalos, vicepresidente de Netflix España, entrevista, El País
  10. La noche más larga TV Show Air Dates & Track Episodes, Next Episode
  11. La noche más larga (1991) - Crítica, decine21.com
  12. La noche más larga (1991), Mexpedia
  13. La noche más larga, Habanero Film Sales
  14. La mala noche/The Longest Night, Sistema de Información Cultural, Secretaría de Cultura, México

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?

© 2026 Biostate AI. Free to use with credit under the Edgepedia Community License. Developers: read Edgepedia by API or MCP. Embed a reference card.

Report an error in this article

The Longest Night

Pick at least one reason.