Netflix’s hit Spanish comedy series “Machos Alfa,” “Alpha Males” in English, got the green light for a fourth season in Spain and a fourth international adaptation in Germany, joining other in-production adaptations of the show in France, the Netherlands and Italy.
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“Machos Alfa” is the story of four middle-aged friends experiencing midlife crises in parallel as they attempt to adapt to modern sensibilities regarding masculinity. It was created and is 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, where it ranked in Netflix’s top 10 for 13 weeks. Season 2 launched in February of this year, and Season 3 recently wrapped production, although no release date has been announced yet.
According to Alberto Caballero, “It’s the themes of the show that have resonated with other countries, and Netflix has seen that some of these themes are making sense in other cultures and languages. Historically, UK, France and Italy have traditionally exported more adaptations than Spain, so I feel proud and satisfied about a Spanish comedy show traveling.”
Laura Caballero shared her partner’s enthusiasm, adding, “I’m excited; I feel proud and also very curious. I can’t wait to see what ‘Alpha Males’ is like in different countries. It’s a good sociological study.”
Germany’s version of “Machos Alfa,” which is currently untitled, will begin production this fall. Key casting has already been confirmed, including Tom Beck, Serkan Kaya, Moritz Führmann and David Rott.
The French version, “Super Mâle,” went into production in January. It was created by Noémie Saglio, creator of “The Hook Up Plan,” who also wrote alongside Estelle Koenig and Julien Teisseire. Saglio directs the show’s first three episodes, with Olivier Rosemberg handling episodes 4-6. It’s produced by Grand Amour and Petite Panthère.
In the Netherlands, “Haantjes” went into production in May, produced by Hollands Licht with Anna van der Heide and Anna van Keimpema directing. Luuk van Bemmelen and Richard Kemper are the show’s screenwriters.
Italy’s adaptation, “Maschi Veri,” also went into production in May, produced by Groenlandia. Its 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, in which executives in other territories who saw the show knew immediately that a localized version could work for their audiences.
“It definitely wasn’t something we set out to do at the beginning,” the executive 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, we had executives in other countries saying, ‘We love this show, and it is so relatable to our audience.'”
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According to Tanz, Netflix executives from multiple countries often get together “to share ideas and the things from our countries that we’re most excited about.” When the Spanish team started showing early footage from “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, once those greenlights are granted, things can move quickly.
“We are in a position where if someone in one of our territories loves something that has been done in another one, 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 harder commodity to export.
“What’s funny in one country may not be funny in another country, so we had to figure out how to make this funny and make it work for the audience we’re speaking to,” Tanz admitted.
That said, the Netflix EMEA team believes there are exceptions to that rule. Tanz pointed to highly regionalized shows such as “Seinfeld,” “How I Met Your Mother” and “Friends,” which are each 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 territories, particularly those that share some cultural similarities to Spain.
It’s also important to note 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 near shot-for-shot remakes. In fact, Netflix will treat each adaptation as its own unique original inspired by the Spanish version.
“The local adaptations aren’t made specifically for fans of the Spanish original. In some cases, you might want to draw in fans of the original, but in this case, the audience for non-local comedy in most countries isn’t that large, so we’re targeting a much broader audience,” he explained. “It’s not like we’re treating it as a secret that these are remakes, but we do want the audience 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 eventual success for the platform. According to Tanz, “We will measure each version on its own. We’ll look at the size of the audience, completion and engagement for each adaptation individually, and not compare them to one another, but instead judge it based on other local originals in those territories.”
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