Netflix adapts ‘Machos Alfa’ in Germany, season 4 Ordered in Spain

Netflix’s hit Spanish comedy series ‘Machos Alfa’, ‘Alpha Males’ in English, has been greenlit for a fourth season in Spain and a fourth international adaptation in Germany, alongside other adaptations of the series in production in France, the Netherlands and Italy.

‘Machos Alfa’ is the story of four middle-aged friends who simultaneously experience midlife crises while trying to adapt to modern sensibilities regarding masculinity. It was created and written by Alberto and Laura Caballero, Spanish sitcom royalty who both worked on the iconic series ‘Aquí no hay quien viva’ and ‘La que se avecina’.

The series launched in December 2022 and quickly became one of Spain’s most popular comedy series, spending 13 weeks in Netflix’s top 10. Season 2 launched in February of this year and Season 3 recently wrapped production, although no release date has been announced yet.

The currently untitled German version of “Machos Alfa” will go into production this fall. Key castings including Tom Beck, Serkan Kaya, Moritz Führmann and David Rott have already been confirmed.

The French version, “Super Mále,” went into production in January. It was created by Noémie Saglia, creator of ‘The Hook Up Plan’, who also co-wrote with Estelle Koenig and Julien Teisseire. Saglia directs the first three episodes of the show, while Olivier Rosemberg helms episodes 4-6. It is produced by Grand Amour and Petite Panthère.

In the Netherlands, “Haantjes” went into production in May, produced by Hollands Licht under the direction of Anna van der Heide and Anna van Keimpema. Luuk van Bemmelen and Richard Kemper are the screenwriters of the series.

The Italian adaptation, “Maschi Veri,” also went into production in May, produced by Groenlandia. The eight episodes were written by Furio Andreotti, Giulia Calenda and Ugo Ripamonti.

According to Netflix VP and Head of Content for EMEA, Larry Tanz, the decision to adapt “Machos Alfa” was representative of a pull strategy, where executives in other territories who saw the show immediately knew that a localized version would be for their audience. can work. .

“It was definitely not something we planned to do at the beginning,” the director explained. “I remember meeting the team behind the series, Alberto and Laura, and they were so excited about it. When the whole team watched it, executives from other countries said, “We love this show and it’s so relatable to our audience.”

According to Tanz, Netflix executives from multiple countries often come together “to share ideas and the things from our countries that we are most excited about.” When the Spanish team started showing early footage of “Machos Alfa,” executives in other countries quickly fell for the idea, and several adaptations were greenlit before Season 1 even aired in Spain. Tanz says that because of the relationship between territories, things could change quickly once the green light is given.

“We’re in a position where if someone in one of our territories likes something done in another country, it’s a quick and easy conversation between teams to talk about the possibility of adapting something in another country ,” Tanz said.

While platforms and broadcasters have been making regional adaptations of popular drama, unscripted and competition shows for years, comedy has long been a more difficult product to export.

“What’s funny in one country might not be funny in another, so we had to figure out how to make this funny and make it work for the audience we were talking to,” Tanz admitted.

That said, the Netflix EMEA team believes there are exceptions to this rule. Tanz pointed to highly regionalized shows like “Seinfeld,” “How I Met Your Mother” and “Friends,” each of which is very New York-specific but managed to make an indelible impact around the world.

Tanz says the contemporary themes of toxic masculinity and male fragility in ‘Machos Alfa’ make it an exciting proposition for other areas, especially those that share some cultural similarities with Spain.

It’s also important to note that while the “Machos Alfa” adaptations will share themes and some plot points with the original, they won’t be “The Office”-style reboots that start out as almost shot-for-shot remakes. In fact, Netflix will treat each adaptation as its own unique original, inspired by the Spanish version.

“The local adaptations are not specifically made for fans of the Spanish original. In some cases you might want to attract fans of the original, but in this case the audience for non-local comedy is not that big in most countries, so we are targeting a much wider audience,” he explained. “It’s not like we’re treating it as a secret that these are remakes, but we do want audiences to see each of these adaptations as their own original and local thing.”

Each adaptation will also be treated as a unique original when it comes to determining its ultimate success for the platform. According to Tanz: “We will measure each version separately. We will look at audience size, completion and engagement for each adaptation separately, and not compare them against each other, but instead rate them against other local originals in those areas.