The comedy that triumphs on Netflix but was born on another platform

BarcelonaNetflix has become a specialist in profiting from series made by others. It happened with The Money Heist, originally premiered on Antena 3, and now the phenomenon has been repeated with Dead SL, a Movistar Plus+ production that has also been available on Netflix since July, where it has already reached the top of the ranking of the platform's most-watched fictions. The streaming service has not only obtained the broadcast rights to the comedy, which until now had two seasons, but is also producing the third installment, which premieres this Thursday and will be available exclusively on Netflix.

While it is true that Netflix has previously hosted series that had previously premiered on conventional television, this is the first time in Spain that the platform has snatched a fiction from a direct competitor. The move is somewhat similar to the agreement that The platform established a couple of years ago with Warner Bros Discovery through which it can offer series from the HBO label, such as Six feet underground either Insecure. However, in that case they only distributed the episodes and never made new seasons.

Behind Dead SL There are the brothers Alberto and Laura Caballero, responsible for such popular comedies as There is no one living here and The one that is coming. It is not the first time that the couple has worked for Netflix: they have also made films for that same platform. Alpha Males, a comedy about four friends in their forties who don't know how to adapt to a society that increasingly views sexist attitudes with distaste. At the beginning of July, the Caballero brothers told in an interview in The World that his decision to move Dead SL Movistar Plus+'s launch on Netflix aimed to reach an international audience. "Movistar Plus+ is a very prestigious platform with some great series, but its reach is smaller, primarily in Spain. Our goal is for as many people as possible to watch it, and many people from abroad asked us how they could watch it. It made us really angry because we'd already experienced that with television," said Alberto Caball.

What is 'Muertos SL' about?

The new Netflix sitcom explores the hardships of a family funeral home. When Gonzalo Torregrosa, the founder of Torregrosa Funeral Home, dies, his right-hand man, Dámaso Carrillo (Carlos Areces), is convinced that he will be his successor. But the widow has other plans: she takes over the company with the support of her son-in-law Chemi, an enthusiastic marketing expert, and against the advice of her daughters, who are in favor of closing the business and opening a gym. Faced with this situation, Dámaso conspires against management and manipulates his colleagues.

Beyond Carlos Areces, the series has a cast that includes well-known faces from Spanish television such as Diego Martín, Amaia Salamanca, Adriana Torrebejano, and Salva Reina, winner of the Goya Award for Best Supporting Actor for The 47.

When the first season premiered, Alberto Caballero explained that the series was born from his interest in "human decadence." "There's nothing more decadent than dying," he asserted.