‘Ravalear’ Cast and Crew Discuss Their New Max Series

Barcelona, Spain — On a bustling street in the Raval neighborhood of Barcelona, past halal butchers, tattoo parlors and generations-old Catalan cafés, a production crew quietly turns the camera on a modest building that houses Can Mosques, a fictional restaurant at the heart of “Ravalear,” Max‘s latest Spanish original series.

The scene feels uncannily real, and that’s the point. Created by filmmaker Pol Rodríguez and inspired by his own family’s experiences running the hugely popular neighborhood bar Can Lluis for more than a century, “Ravalear” is a raw, immersive series that mixes the language and tropes of thriller and family drama genres to plunge viewers into a Barcelona caught in the throes of gentrification, identity and survival.

Max’s new six-episode series, produced by Barcelona’s Oscar-nominated “Robot Dreams” producer Arcadia Motion Pictures, is set to premiere in 2026. More than just another high-end European drama. It’s a deeply personal story of memory, community and the quiet brutality of economic displacement. Variety was granted access to the set where Arcadia executive producer Sandra Tapia proudly showed off how this ambitious vision is being brought to life and introduced us to the people working to bring this story to the screen.

“Everything started in 2019,” showrunner Rodríguez explained between takes, seated in a corner of the bustling street that doubles as the main thoroughfare of “Ravalear.” “My family had a restaurant, Can Lluís, for decades. A fund took it over, and we lost it during the pandemic. There was guilt, there was anger and I realized, this story could be adapted as a thriller.”

Indeed, “Ravalear” blends social realism with thriller tropes. It follows a multi-generational family who, upon learning that their beloved restaurant is being bought out by a powerful investment fund, decide to fight back. But this isn’t a simple underdog tale. “The characters are morally complex,” Rodríguez said. “The heroes aren’t always right, and the villains aren’t always wrong.”

The story is grounded in current urban tensions: skyrocketing rents, speculative real estate and cultural erasure. Yet Rodríguez insists the drama is more than polemics. “It’s about memory versus progress,” he said. “What happens when the identity of a neighborhood is erased for profit?”

Filmed largely on location in the Raval itself, with additional scenes in Montjuïc and Poblenou, “Ravalear” blurs the line between fiction and documentary. Street casting brought in first-time actors like Noor-Ul-Huda and Mohamed Ben Moula, who perform alongside Spanish heavyweights including Enric Auquer, María Rodríguez Soto, Francesc Orella and Sergi López.

Walking onto the set feels like entering a real-life street in the barrio. The recreated Can Mosques isn’t a studio construct but a functioning kitchen and dining room built inside a real commercial space, although only for the duration of filming. Local businesses and residents serve as extras, and neighborhood associations were involved from the script stage through production, helping with everything from set dressing to catering.

“There’s a rawness to this,” said Auquer, who plays one of the family’s sons. “Seeing Pol’s actual family get emotional watching us recreate their past, that’s powerful. It gives everything we do an added weight.”

Rodríguez and co-director Isaki Lacuesta – their last collaboration, “Saturn Return,” won three Goyas in 2025- embraced this immersive approach. “It’s chaos, sure,” Rodríguez laughed. “But it’s beautiful chaos. Like a restaurant during service, you have to embrace the unpredictability.”

True to its setting, “Ravalear” is multilingual. Scenes shift naturally between Catalan, Spanish, Urdu, Arabic and English. “It reflects the soul of the neighborhood,” said Rodríguez. “You walk down a single street in Raval and hear five languages. We wanted to honor that.”

For many cast members, this polyphony was a challenge and a thrill. “Sometimes I’d be doing a scene in Spanish with someone who didn’t speak it at all,” Auquer said. “And yet we connected. It was all body language and emotion. That’s the magic of cinema.”

While “Ravalear” is clearly political, its villains include a shadowy investment firm and its heroes are those fighting to remain in their homes – although the lines between them blur frequently, Rodríguez and the cast are careful to avoid didacticism. “This isn’t a lecture,” said Rodríguez Soto. “It’s about people. And people are complicated.”

Rodríguez Soto plays the wife of the family’s eldest son. “She’s from a higher economic background,” she explained. “She’s fascinated by this world, by people who’ve built their lives together, who fight for each other. It’s a love letter to working-class solidarity.”

Both Rodríguez and Auquer were drawn to the script’s emotional truth. “This isn’t just about a building,” said Auquer. “It’s about history. Identity. When a place disappears, part of who you are goes with it.”

Although deeply local in theme and language, “Ravalear” is poised for international attention. With Filmax handling global sales and Max ensuring broad domestic visibility, the series seems destined to cross borders. But the creators aren’t tailoring it for export.

“We’re not diluting anything,” said Rodríguez. “In fact, I think the more specific we get, the more universal the story becomes.”

Auquer agreed. “You see that with Danish dramas, or Latin American cinema. When you tell a story truthfully, when you show the details of a particular community, that’s when people everywhere recognize themselves in it.”

The production process has been grueling but exhilarating. “Thirty actors, five languages, non-actors, kids, kitchens, it’s a mountain,” Rodríguez admitted. “But that’s the thrill. We’ve been rehearsing with some cast members for over two years. That level of commitment shows.”

Much of that effort went into ensuring authenticity, from kitchen food choreography to nightly service tension. “It’s like a ballet,” said the director, who grew up in the restaurant world. “One wrong move, one broken plate, and everything spirals. It’s perfect drama.”

When “Ravalear” premieres on Max in 2026, it will be more than a prestige series. It’s a cry from the heart of a city and a people under siege, and a raw, almost autobiographical testimony from one of the country’s top filmmakers. It’s a mirror to modern urban life, capturing what happens when families, communities and culture collide with the cold logic of a hyper-capitalistic metropolis.

As Rodríguez summed up: “I don’t have the answers. I just want to ask the right questions. And this series is my way of asking, what are we willing to lose in the name of progress?”