In a pioneering collaboration with Latin America, Spain’s Movistar Plus is partnering with Chile’s Wood Producciones and Spain’s Atlantica Film to produce Patagonia, starring Itziar Itunho.
As previously announced, Germany’s ZDF Studios is handling international distribution.
The new Movistar Plus series, currently filming in southern Chile, focuses on Alicia’s (Itunho) son Noah (Unai Arana), who disappears without a trace in Chilean Patagonia. She flies from her hometown of Vizcaya to find him and encounters a wilderness of ancient forests and illegal logging mafia in Patagonia.
“The search for her becomes a desperate race as each clue reveals new threats or old family wounds,” the synopsis concludes.
Movistar Plus describes “Patagonia” as “a combination of eco-thriller elements and a powerful, universal family drama.”
The series began production in April in Hornopilén, the northern gateway to Patagonia and home to a forest of Millennial Arce trees. There I will move to the Basque Country for two weeks until the end of May.
“This is an intense and emotional story set in a breathtakingly beautiful location,” said Ituño. Facing her own guilt and fear, Alicia begins a frantic search for her adolescent son in unexplored and unknown territory. Shot in Chilean Patagonia by a team of different cultures and nationalities, it was an electrifying experience. ”
“‘Patagonia’ was born out of a need to tell a deeply human story in one of the most inspiring and extreme regions on earth,” said Maria Elena Wood.
“This series reveals the fragility of human bonds in the face of nature, force, and survival. It is an emotional thriller that challenges the characters to change their vision of the world to find what they are looking for,” she added.
At least since “Hierro,” Movistar Plus has produced series with international partners. One of the first series with Latin American partners, “Patagonia” is unique in that its creators are Chileans María Elena Wood and Patricia Pereira. A doyenne of Chilean TV producers and a pioneer in premium series production in Chile, Maria Elena Wood’s work includes the Platino Award for Best Series winner “News of the Kidnapping,” “Dignity,” “Ramon,” and many others. In addition to Mary & Mike and Dignity, Pereira was also a producer on films directed by Maria Elena Wood’s brother Andres Wood, from 2004’s Machuca to 2019’s Spider (Araña).
Patagonia is sponsored not only by Spain’s Diptacion Forral de Vizcaya, the government of Bilbao and the surrounding Basque Country, but also by Chile’s government-run television station, CNTV, and the country’s public broadcaster, National Television of Chile.
Rodrigo Susarte (Gen Mishima, Invanche), who most recently directed the blockbuster high-concept sci-fi thriller Hidden Island, which was the title of the 2026 Berlinale Series Market Select, is directing all six episodes of Patagonia. The screenplay is by Luis Barrales (“Mary & Mike”) and Anastasia Ayaji (“My Sad Dead”).
The principal cast includes Candido Uranga (Maspalomas), Pablo Macaya (42 Days of Darkness), Marcelo Alonso (El Club), Sara Becker (The House of Spirits), Trinidad González (Fantastic Women), and Patricia Cuyul (The Spiders).
Patagonia is produced by Maria Elena Wood and Pereira, Atlantica’s Nano Arrieta and Claudia Ruiz, who co-created director Fernando Trueba’s animated masterpiece They Shot the Piano Player and the feature Haunted Heart.
Production supervision will be shared with Sebastian Krekeler, Suzanne Frank and Peter Naderman of ZDF Studios, as well as Christina Merino of Movistar Plus.
“‘Patagonia’ represents a new way of producing international fiction,” said Arrieta, executive producer of the series, Atlantica Films. “This is a model that not only diversifies risk but also expands the reach of a series with local identity and global resonance.”
The series “characterizes many of the qualities we look for in the projects we develop: stories with a contemporary yet universal perspective, whose ethical dilemmas concern us, the audience, and a talented and dedicated international team with boundless passion to execute and protect the series,” said Merino, executive producer at Movistar Plus.
Javier Goldschmied, TVN Programming Director, added: “It is particularly valuable for TVN to form part of a series with a contemporary vision that can broadly connect with local and international audiences, centering on the territories, people and conflicts deeply connected to southern Chile.”
Itziar Itunho on the set of Patagonia
