Berto Romero is abducted by aliens

BacelonaIn the midst of a heatwave, Andreu Buenafuente and Eva Ugarte, dressed for autumn, focus on filming one of the last scenes of El otro mundo, the sequel to El otro lado, the series by Berto Romero that mixes mystery, paranormal phenomena, and humor. The filming takes place in a large house in the Sant Gervasi neighborhood of Barcelona, and inside it is much hotter than outside, where there is still a slight breeze. Between takes, a makeup artist touches up Buenafuente while another person tries to cool him down minimally with a small hand fan. "Filming a series set in autumn in July during a heatwave is a stroke of genius, it's an added challenge that we didn't want to overlook. Really, you could raise chickens in there," says Romero, between laughs, once the scene is finished. The comedian, besides being the protagonist of the fiction, also acts as director, a task he shares with Alberto del Toro.

In El otro mundo, Romero reprises the character of Nacho Nieto, a journalist obsessed with paranormal phenomena. For his part, Buenafuente is once again Dr. Estrada, the ghost of a legendary mystery communicator, in the style of Fernando Jiménez del Oso, who from the beyond becomes Nacho's mentor. Eva Ugarte also repeats and continues in the role of Juana, Nacho's assistant who now has mediumistic powers. El otro lado premiered in 2023 on Movistar+ and, at the time, Romero explained that he wasn't sure if there would be a second season. Finally, however, the lightbulb went on and he found a way to continue the story. In this new installment, which has a new title to frame the new plot, the protagonist is abducted by aliens and when he wakes up, he believes he has to transmit an urgent message to humanity, although he cannot remember what it is.

When they were filming the first season, the team explained that, as it was a production that played with horror, the process had been especially complex. With the second season, the situation has repeated itself. "We've gotten ourselves into an even bigger mess. It's more ambitious, not only because of the special effects but also because of the plot: we're messing with the media, with aliens, with horror," points out Del Toro. In fact, in these new chapters, Nacho starts working on a mystery program similar to Iker Jiménez's. "It's not a series that wants to ridicule this kind of journalism. We have a very tender and very nostalgic look at what it was and what it has become. It makes me very fond of a journalist who spends his whole life chasing UFOs or ghosts and never finds them. Filming a series where they are actually found, for me, has a point of poetic justice," reflects Romero.

Despite being a confessed lover of mysteries and the journalism that follows them, Romero assures that he has not wanted to create characters that were copies of real and well-known people. "I don't like to go into detail and make homages or references. I like to be very intuitive. I have been a consumer of mystery programs for a large part of my life, it was ten years in which I consumed everything. In the attic of my head, I have a lot of material from this world, but it's all very messy. The story has some things from the Ummo case, which is real, but at no time have we wanted to clone things or portray characters," explains Romero. The comic adds that, despite not adhering to reality, he has encountered people who, after seeing the series, have said they have detected explicit references. "I know people who worked with Jiménez del Oso and they told me: 'You have done a lot of research, Estrada does things that Jiménez del Oso used to do.' But I didn't know him nor have I informed myself," he says.

Special collaboration

One of the additions to the cast is Sílvia Abril, who makes a small collaboration. She plays the daughter of Estrada, the character played by Buenafuente, the actress's real-life partner. "We thought it would be fun to play with that. In the first season, we already played with the relationship Andreu and I have and we made his character the teacher of mine," explains Romero, who says she wrote the role specifically for Abril. "Since time doesn't pass with ghosts, temporality works in our favour, and I, at my age, can play his daughter," points out the actress. Buenafuente can't help but joke about it: "I've imagined many things, but I never saw this coming."

Buenafuente returns to work at full capacity after work stress leave he had to take at the end of 2025. "Doing the series is like playing at home, a calm return, although a bit demanding. I said 'I'll come back gently' and, boom, series in a heatwave. But with colleagues it's wonderful. It's returning to a place where you've been happy," says Buenafuente.