Buendía Estudios, Atresmedia, Netflix Set ‘Sira,’ With Adriana Ugarte

Tapping into one of Spanish TVs big, big IPs, Buendía Estudios is developing “Sira,” the sequel to “The Time In Between,” teaming with Spanish broadcaster Antena 3 and Netflix in a business model which looks likely to grow, including not only production and windowing in Spain but select overseas distribution outside the country.

Based once more on a María Dueñas bestseller, “Sira” sees Adriana Ugarte reprise her role as Sira Quiroga, the naive seamstress turned worldly Madrid couturier and resolute British Secret Service spy of “The Time in Between.”

“Sira’s” executive producers are Buendía Estudios’ senior advisor Sonia Martínez, who produced “The Time In Between” as Atresmedia director of fiction, and Paloma Molina, an exec producer on Max’s “When No One Sees Us.” They will work in collaboration with Dueñas, who serves as creative executive producer.

In final development, “Sira” is expected to start production in late 2025.

In Spain, the series will premiere on Atresmedia and later be available on Netflix. “Sira” will also stream on Netflix across “several international territories” – “highlighting the growing trend of Spanish and international streaming services collaborating on major projects,” Buendía Estudios noted in a statement Thursday.

Produced by Buendía Estudios Bizkaia, the production company’s Bilbao-based Basque Country subsidiary. “Sira” the series looks set to pick up soon after “The Time In Between” ends. “World War II is coming to an end. Sira stops collaborating with the British Secret Service and begins a new life with Marcus. But just as she is about to become a mother, a tragic event changes everything,” a synopsis reads.

“In order to survive and raise her child, Sira must reinvent herself once more. Four cities, two missions, and a new calling,” it ends.

“The Time in Between” (“El tiempo enter costuras”) was a TV phenomenon, mixing lush period romance with a loving recreation of the texture and tones of fabrics with a “particularly lovely ‘Downton Abbey’ flair, with gorgeous period costumes, grandiose set pieces, sweeping instrumental interludes and rebellious women who act in a manner contrary to what’s expected of them in the early 20th century,” Indie Wire said in a review.

Sold widely abroad, it proved Atresmedia’s biggest bow in 12 years, punching 5 million-plus viewers alone in Spain and causing sales of sewing machines to spike 135% on Amazon.es after the release of its first episode in October 2013. Acquired by Netflix for its catalog in 2014, years before the streamer’s first Spanish original, its takeup underscored “a large appetite in Latin America and the U.S” for Spanish series on the streaming service even at its early stage, Netflix’s Diego Ávalos, Netflix VP of content, Spain, Portugal and Turkey recalled recently to Variety. 

Mention of “four cities” in the synopsis of “Sira” suggests it may well, like Dueñas’ novel, take place in Jerusalem, England, Madrid and Tangiers. 

“The Love in Between” was financed by just Atresmedia. Series made on such a large canvas require ever more these days the involvement of a streaming service – global, regional or national – to realize the potential of their scale. 

A robust IP base also helps. Published in 2021 by Editorial Planeta, with Scenic Rights handling the representation of its audiovisual adaptation rights, Dueñas’ novel “Sira” has sold 800,000 copies in Spain and Latin America. 

Launched in 2020, and boasting a seasoned management led by CEO Ignacio Corales and Laura Abril as EVP scripted and, global business development, Buendía Estudios has produced across a vast range of series from boundary pushing titles from new talent (“Veneno” “Cardo,” playing on Atresplayer), acclaimed artistic fare (“The Nights of Tefía,” Atresplayer), an innovative anthology (“Offworld,” Movistar Plus+), animation  (“Pobre Diablo,” HBO Max) and robust premium series (“Ángela,” Atresmedia, Netflix), “Galgos” (Movistar Plus+), “The Unit Kabul” (Movistar Plus+).

Upcoming releases take in “Sin Cobertura,”(Sony Entertainment), an early feature film, returning seasons of “Marbella” and “Little Faith” (Movistar Plus+), both awaited, “COPES: Elite Police” (Prime Latin America) and “Las hijas de la criada” (Atresplayer), as well as now the international production “Sira.”