Thriller, drama and horror come together in the new Netflix series, ‘Santo’

“It’s a complicated series, but that’s why it’s interesting. Now we’re used to having everything explained to us almost from the beginning and not with this series, here you have to be patient because a lot of things happen, It has many pieces and in the end, chapter by chapter, everything will be resolved.it’s like a puzzle a bit”, details the actress, one of the protagonists of the series, in an interview.

The Serie tells the story of Santo, the drug dealer world’s most wanted whose face has never been revealed, and whom two opposing policemen, the Spaniard Millán (Raúl Arévalo) and the Brazilian Ernesto Cardona (Bruno Gagliasso), try to hunt down from Madrid and Salvador de Bahía.

The only real and tangible link with the criminal is his lover, Barbara (Victória Guerra), a mysterious Portuguese woman who in recent years has immersed herself in the world of spirituality and violence of her partner.

Although the protagonist is a drug dealer, fiction goes “much further” there“it is not the simple series of drug traffickers that we are used to seeing,” the actors assure.

“It is different from everything we usually see, it is even different from police series. Our protagonist is not the drug, nor the villain, nor the policemen; our protagonist is the mystery and the suspense”, clarifies Gagliasso.

While Guerra points out that the series has “very strong” characters, there is no hero. “The plot is more about the people themselves, not just about traffic. All the characters have a dark side, they are real,” he adds.

Religion is one of the strengths of the series, specifically Candomblé (one of the best-known Afro-Brazilian religions) is the one shown.

Fiction has had a religious advisor specializing in filming who has also advised the team in the preliminary writing process and in post-production. In addition, the Brazilian actor belongs to this religion, which gave more credibility to the story.

“Despite the fact that I am from candomblé, I prepared myself with the Holy Father because I did not want to make a wrong interpretation, for me and for millions of people it is something that must be treated with respect (…). In the end I think that the series makes a very good reflection, and that people will feel identified and will learn“, he declares.

In this sense, he affirms that the preparation of his character was “difficult and tense” since his character was in “motion all the time”.

‘Santo’, whose filming took place between Madrid and Salvador de Bahía, is a 100% Spanish production which is run by Netflix and Nostromo Pictures, but both director Vicente Amorim (he also directed the miniseries centered on the life of Netflix’s pilot Ayrton Senna) and a large part of the cast are Brazilian.

“It is a very rich cultural exchange for everyone, for spectators, actors and producers, I really wanted to shoot with Spanish actors, and I have been lucky enough to meet Raúl and Greta, as well as colleagues from my country. That has been the wonderful thing about this series”, recognizes the carioca actor.

Likewise, the protagonists recognize that the mix of being shot between Spain and Brazil gives “visual richness to the images”, which makes the chapters “look good”.