# Yosi, the Regretful Spy
**Yosi, the Regretful Spy** (*Iosi, el espía arrepentido*) is an Argentine espionage thriller television series created by Daniel Burman for Amazon Prime Video, based on the 2015 nonfiction book of the same name by journalists Miriam Lewin and Horacio Lutzky.[1](https://sebastianbores.com/works/iosi-el-espia-arrepentido/) • [2](https://www.jta.org/2022/07/20/culture/the-real-story-behind-yosi-the-regretful-spy-the-amazon-drama-about-terror-and-espionage-in-argentinas-jewish-community) It dramatizes the real case of José Pérez, an Argentine intelligence agent who infiltrated the Jewish community of Buenos Aires in the 1980s under the name Iosi Peres, and who later came to believe that the information he gathered was used to prepare the 1992 bombing of the Israeli embassy and the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center.[2](https://www.jta.org/2022/07/20/culture/the-real-story-behind-yosi-the-regretful-spy-the-amazon-drama-about-terror-and-espionage-in-argentinas-jewish-community)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Original title | *Iosi, el espía arrepentido*; released internationally as Yosi, the Regretful Spy[1](https://sebastianbores.com/works/iosi-el-espia-arrepentido/) |
| Creators and directors | Created and showrun by Daniel Burman, co-directed with Sebastián Borensztein (and Martín Hodara in season 2)[1](https://sebastianbores.com/works/iosi-el-espia-arrepentido/) • [3](https://prensa.mediapro.tv/esp/noticias_detalle.php?id=9152) |
| Source | 2015 book *Iosi, el espía arrepentido* by Miriam Lewin and Horacio Lutzky[1](https://sebastianbores.com/works/iosi-el-espia-arrepentido/) |
| Release | Premiered at the Berlinale Series in 2022; season 1 on Prime Video April 29, 2022; season 2 October 27, 2023, in more than 240 countries and territories[4](https://www.aceprensa.com/resenas-cine-series/iosi-el-espia-arrepentido/) • [3](https://prensa.mediapro.tv/esp/noticias_detalle.php?id=9152) |
| Format | Two seasons of eight episodes each, roughly 45 to 50 minutes per episode[4](https://www.aceprensa.com/resenas-cine-series/iosi-el-espia-arrepentido/) • [5](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/yosi-the-regretful-spy) |
| Main cast | Gustavo Bassani (José Pérez / Iosi), Natalia Oreiro (Claudia), Alejandro Awada (Saúl Menajem), Mercedes Morán, Carla Quevedo, Minerva Casero[1](https://sebastianbores.com/works/iosi-el-espia-arrepentido/) |
| Historical backdrop | The 1992 Israeli embassy bombing in Buenos Aires, which killed 22 people and injured more than 240, and the 1994 AMIA bombing, which killed 85[6](https://elpais.com/argentina/2024-07-18/iosi-el-espia-arrepentido-la-nueva-vida-en-la-clandestinidad-y-los-secretos-aun-guardados-del-atentado-contra-la-amia.html) • [7](https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/book/iosi-the-remorseful-spy) |
| Recognition | Premio Sur for Best Series (2023); Rose d'Or Latino for Best Drama Series; 16 Silver Condor nominations for season 1 and 9 for season 2[8](https://www.themediaprostudio.com/en/yosi-the-regretful-spy-wins-award-for-best-drama-series-at-rose-dor-latinos/) |
## Spoilers
### Premise
The series follows José Pérez (played by Gustavo Bassani), a young police officer recruited by Argentine intelligence in the mid-1980s and sent undercover into the Jewish community of Buenos Aires under the Hebrew name Iosi Peres.[4](https://www.aceprensa.com/resenas-cine-series/iosi-el-espia-arrepentido/) His stated mission is to investigate the "Plan Andinia," an antisemitic conspiracy theory claiming that Jews and Zionists were plotting to turn [Patagonia](https://www.edgepedia.org/patagonia) into a Jewish state.[2](https://www.jta.org/2022/07/20/culture/the-real-story-behind-yosi-the-regretful-spy-the-amazon-drama-about-terror-and-espionage-in-argentinas-jewish-community) Over years of infiltration he rises through community institutions, befriends the businessman and arms dealer Saúl Menajem (Alejandro Awada), and falls in love with members of the community, while reporting to handlers who openly voice antisemitic views.[2](https://www.jta.org/2022/07/20/culture/the-real-story-behind-yosi-the-regretful-spy-the-amazon-drama-about-terror-and-espionage-in-argentinas-jewish-community)
The narrative moves across decades, from the 1980s to the 2000s, anchored on 17 March 1992, the date of the embassy bombing.[9](https://bafc.buenosaires.gob.ar/noticias/46/iosi-siguiendo-los-pasos-del-espia-arrepentido-por-buenos-aires) When the attacks on the embassy in 1992 and the AMIA building in 1994 take place, Iosi grows fearful that the building layouts and institutional routines he passed to his superiors helped organize them, and he begins trying to bring the intellectual authors to justice before he and his family are eliminated.[7](https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/book/iosi-the-remorseful-spy) • [1](https://sebastianbores.com/works/iosi-el-espia-arrepentido/)
## The real story
The book underlying the series reconstructs the testimony of the real José Pérez, an Argentine intelligence agent who was infiltrated in the Jewish community of Buenos Aires for more than 20 years, from 1985, under the name Iosi Peres.[4](https://www.aceprensa.com/resenas-cine-series/iosi-el-espia-arrepentido/) He rose through community institutions, securing a position at the OSA (the Argentine Zionist Organization) and becoming active in AMIA and DAIA, Argentina's most prominent Jewish institutions.[7](https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/book/iosi-the-remorseful-spy) In 2000 he assured Lewin and Lutzky that the material he had collected, among it building plans and blueprints, had in his view played a part in the attacks carried out in 1992 and 1994.[10](https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/article-712681) After stopping his cooperation he was transferred to a bureaucratic police post, and for fear of assassination he recorded his testimony in advance and entered witness protection under a new identity.[10](https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/article-712681)
The series takes some creative liberties: it portrays Yosi in a web of international arms dealing that was not part of the real story, and it condenses his romantic life, since the real Pérez took more lovers than the two shown and secretly married a Jewish woman.[2](https://www.jta.org/2022/07/20/culture/the-real-story-behind-yosi-the-regretful-spy-the-amazon-drama-about-terror-and-espionage-in-argentinas-jewish-community) Both attacks remain formally unsolved, a point the series and the book emphasize.[7](https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/book/iosi-the-remorseful-spy)
## Production and release
The series is a production of Oficina Burman (The Mediapro Studio) with Amazon Studios, written by Sebastián Borensztein as lead writer with Andrés Gelós, Natacha Caravia, Sergio Dubcovsky, Emiliano Torres, and Daniel Burman, with music by Federico Jusid and cinematography by Rodrigo Pulpeiro.[1](https://sebastianbores.com/works/iosi-el-espia-arrepentido/) • [11](https://www.produ.com/programa/iosi-el-espia-arrepentido/) Filming took place in [Montevideo](https://www.edgepedia.org/montevideo) and Buenos Aires, and in June 2021 in the province of Mendoza, in the district of El Nihuil in San Rafael, generating more than 100 jobs in the local audiovisual sector.[12](https://www.infobae.com/leamos/2022/05/17/del-libro-a-la-pantalla-como-surgio-la-investigacion-periodistica-de-iosi-el-espia-arrepentido/) • [13](https://www.hcdmza.gob.ar/eweb/E-80000/E-80477/E-80477.pdf)
After its premiere in the Berlinale Series section in 2022, season 1 reached Prime Video on April 29, 2022, in more than 240 countries.[4](https://www.aceprensa.com/resenas-cine-series/iosi-el-espia-arrepentido/) • [14](https://prensa.mediapro.tv/esp/noticias_detalle.php?id=8665) Season 2, released on October 27, 2023, shifts focus to the [AMIA bombing](https://www.edgepedia.org/amia-bombing) and to the Cóndor missile, Argentina's secret military project, with Iosi acting as a double agent for both the Mossad and Argentine intelligence while confiding in a journalist.[3](https://prensa.mediapro.tv/esp/noticias_detalle.php?id=9152) • [15](https://www.infobae.com/que-puedo-ver/2023/10/27/iosi-el-espia-arrepentido-y-las-claves-de-la-segunda-temporada-que-llega-a-prime-video/?outputType=amp-type)
## Reception
Critics received the series positively. Diego Lerer of Micropsia Cine called it "attractive, promising and very much on point" and praised Bassani's "surprising" performance, while Diego Batlle of Otros Cines described the production as technically irreproachable, with excellent art direction and score.[16](https://mexpedia.org/index.php/Iosi%2C_el_esp%C3%ADa_arrepentido) The series holds a 7.7 rating on IMDb.[5](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/yosi-the-regretful-spy)
Season 1 was nominated in 16 categories at the Silver Condor Awards, a record for a television production, and won the Premio Sur for Best Series from Argentina's Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2023; the Argentine Writers Guild honored its writing team.[14](https://prensa.mediapro.tv/esp/noticias_detalle.php?id=8665) • [8](https://www.themediaprostudio.com/en/yosi-the-regretful-spy-wins-award-for-best-drama-series-at-rose-dor-latinos/) Season 2 won the Rose d'Or Latino for Best Drama Series and received nine Silver Condor nominations, including Best Drama Series, Best Leading Actress for Natalia Oreiro, and Best Series Direction.[8](https://www.themediaprostudio.com/en/yosi-the-regretful-spy-wins-award-for-best-drama-series-at-rose-dor-latinos/)
## References
1. [IOSI El Espía Arrepentido – Sebastián Borensztein, official site](https://sebastianbores.com/works/iosi-el-espia-arrepentido/)
2. [The real story behind 'Yosi, the Regretful Spy', Jewish Telegraphic Agency (2022)](https://www.jta.org/2022/07/20/culture/the-real-story-behind-yosi-the-regretful-spy-the-amazon-drama-about-terror-and-espionage-in-argentinas-jewish-community)
3. [La nueva temporada de 'Iosi, El Espía Arrepentido' se estrenará el 27 de octubre, The Mediapro Studio press room (2023)](https://prensa.mediapro.tv/esp/noticias_detalle.php?id=9152)
4. [Iosi, el espía arrepentido. Sinopsis y crítica, ACEPRENSA (2024)](https://www.aceprensa.com/resenas-cine-series/iosi-el-espia-arrepentido/)
5. [Yosi, the Regretful Spy – streaming online, JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/yosi-the-regretful-spy)
6. [Iosi, el espía arrepentido: la nueva vida en la clandestinidad, El País Argentina (2024)](https://elpais.com/argentina/2024-07-18/iosi-el-espia-arrepentido-la-nueva-vida-en-la-clandestinidad-y-los-secretos-aun-guardados-del-atentado-contra-la-amia.html)
7. [Iosi, the Remorseful Spy, Jewish Book Council](https://www.jewishbookcouncil.org/book/iosi-the-remorseful-spy)
8. ['Yosi, the Regretful Spy' wins Best Drama Series at Rose d'Or Latinos, The Mediapro Studio (2025)](https://www.themediaprostudio.com/en/yosi-the-regretful-spy-wins-award-for-best-drama-series-at-rose-dor-latinos/)
9. [Iosi: Siguiendo los pasos del espía arrepentido por Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires Film Commission](https://bafc.buenosaires.gob.ar/noticias/46/iosi-siguiendo-los-pasos-del-espia-arrepentido-por-buenos-aires)
10. [The real story behind the new Amazon drama 'Yosi, the Regretful Spy', The Jerusalem Post (2022)](https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/article-712681)
11. [Iosi, el espía arrepentido, PRODU](https://www.produ.com/programa/iosi-el-espia-arrepentido/)
12. [Del libro a la pantalla: cómo surgió la investigación periodística de 'Iosi, el espía arrepentido', Infobae (2022)](https://www.infobae.com/leamos/2022/05/17/del-libro-a-la-pantalla-como-surgio-la-investigacion-periodistica-de-iosi-el-espia-arrepentido/)
13. [Resumen del proyecto, Honorable Cámara de Diputados de Mendoza](https://www.hcdmza.gob.ar/eweb/E-80000/E-80477/E-80477.pdf)
14. ['Iosi, El Espía Arrepentido' es la producción más nominada de los premios Cóndor de Plata, The Mediapro Studio press room (2022)](https://prensa.mediapro.tv/esp/noticias_detalle.php?id=8665)
15. ['Iosi, el espía arrepentido' y las claves de la segunda temporada, Infobae (2023)](https://www.infobae.com/que-puedo-ver/2023/10/27/iosi-el-espia-arrepentido-y-las-claves-de-la-segunda-temporada-que-llega-a-prime-video/?outputType=amp-type)
16. [Iosi, el espía arrepentido, Mexpedia](https://mexpedia.org/index.php/Iosi%2C_el_esp%C3%ADa_arrepentido)
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*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 › Argentine telenovelas and 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*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license