BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) 鈥� A group of friends gather to play cards in their host鈥檚 cozy home when the power cuts. Cellphones die. An eerie snow falls all over the city, killing everyone it touches. The friends struggle to survive, their panic replaced by a growing awareness that humanity itself is at stake.
This is the premise of 鈥淭he Eternaut,鈥� a chilling dystopian drama out of that premiered its first season on on April 30. The six-episode, Spanish-language series with its mix of sci-fi elements and focus on humanity's resilience, has struck a universal nerve, rocketing to No. 1 among Netflix鈥檚 most streamed non-English-language TV shows within days.
Netflix already renewed the show for a second season, with filming scheduled to start next year.
But 鈥淭he Eternaut鈥� has touched on something deeper in Argentina, where legendary comic-strip writer H茅ctor Germ谩n Oesterheld penned the original graphic novel in 1957 鈥� two decades before he was 鈥渄isappeared鈥� by Argentina鈥檚 , along with all four of his daughters.
Abroad, publishers are scrambling to keep pace with renewed interest in the source material. The Seattle-based Fantagraphics Books said it would reissue an out-of-print English translation due to the surge in U.S. demand.
At home, the TV adaptation has and found unexpected resonance at a moment of heightened anxiety about the state of Argentine society under .
鈥淭he boom of 鈥楾he Eternaut' has created a cultural and social event beyond the series,鈥� said Mart铆n Oesterheld, the writer鈥檚 grandson and a creative consultant and executive producer on the show. 鈥淚t fills our hearts. It brings us pride.鈥�
An alien invasion hits home
For years, the surviving Oesterhelds resisted offers from Hollywood to adapt the cult classic, wary of the industry's seemingly irresistible urge to destroy New York City and other Western centers in apocalyptic dramas.
To honor his grandfather's creation, Mart铆n Oesterheld said the show had to be filmed in Spanish, with an Argentine cast and set in .
鈥淲hat he did was to do away with the representations of science fiction that we know in Europe and the United States,鈥� Mart铆n Oesterheld said of his grandfather. 鈥淗e told it on our own terms, through things that we recognize.鈥�
Netflix, pushing to expand beyond its saturated U.S. market into previously untapped regions like Latin America, was a natural fit, he said. The streaming giant wouldn鈥檛 disclose its budget, but said the special effect-laden show took four years of pre- and post-production, involved 2,900 people and pumped $34 million into Argentina鈥檚 economy.
In the show, aliens wreak predictable mayhem on an unpredictable cityscape 鈥� wide boulevards, neoclassical buildings, antique pizza halls and grimy suburbs 鈥� lending the show a shiver of curious power for Argentines who had never seen their city eviscerated on screen.
The protagonists don't play poker but truco, a popular Argentine trick card game. They sip from gourds of mate, made from yerba leaves. The snowfall is uncanny, and not just because it kills on contact. Buenos Aires has only seen snow twice in the last century.
鈥淔rom truco in scene one, which couldn't be more Argentine, we see that 鈥楾he Eternaut鈥� is playing with these contrasts 鈥� life and death, light and darkness, the familiar versus the alien,鈥� said Mart铆n Hadis, an Argentine researcher specializing in science fiction. 鈥淚t's not just a sci-fi story. It's a modern myth. That鈥檚 what makes it so universal.鈥�
In updating the story to present-day Argentina, the show brings the nation鈥檚 disastrous 1982 war with Britain over , or the Falkland Islands, into the backstory of its hero, Juan Salvo, played by .
Salvo, a protective father and courageous ex-soldier who emerges to lead the group of survivors, is haunted by the rout of his comrades sent by Argentina's dictatorship to retake the South Atlantic islands. The defeat , many of them untrained conscripts.
鈥淭he conflict in Las Malvinas is not closed, it鈥檚 still a bloody wound,鈥� Dar铆n told The Associated Press. 鈥淚t鈥檚 bringing the subject back to the table. That has moved a lot of people.鈥�
Argentine underdogs
Faced with catastrophe, the protagonists rely on their own ingenuity, and on each other, to survive.
What comes through, the creators say, is the Argentine saying 鈥渁tado con alambre鈥� 鈥� roughly, 鈥渉eld together with wire鈥� 鈥� used to describe the in a nation that has suffered through decades of and .
鈥淚t says a lot about being Argentine 鈥� taking whatever you have at your disposal and pushing your limitations,鈥� said Mart铆n Oesterheld. He was referring not only to the plot but also to the production at a time when on Argentina's bloated state and to cultural programs like the National Film Institute.
鈥淎s our culture is being defunded, we鈥檙e taking this Argentine product to the world,鈥� Mart铆n Oesterheld said.
Against this backdrop, the show's message of solidarity has gained an urgent new meaning, with Argentines outraged over Milei鈥檚 transforming the series' motto, 鈥淣o one gets through it alone,鈥� into a rallying cry.
The slogan was scrawled on signs at protests by retirees demonstrating against to their pensions this month. To protect some traded bandannas for the gas masks used in the show to shield against toxic snowfall.
鈥淭here is a general policy these days that the state shouldn't take care of its citizens, which relates to individual freedom,鈥� Dar铆n said. But there are many cases where if the state disappears completely, people are left to drift, as if they were shipwrecked.鈥�
A search reignited
As the Netflix series exploded out of the gate, missing-persons flyers for H茅ctor Oesterheld, his daughters and potential grandchildren popped up on billboards for 鈥淭he Eternaut鈥� all over Buenos Aires, a reminder of the behind the pulp adventure.
By the time the military junta came to power in 1976, Oesterheld, 58, had become known as a committed leftist, his four daughters, ranging in age from 19 to 25, had joined a far-left guerilla group and the whole family had turned into a target of Latin America鈥檚 deadliest dictatorship.
Two of Oesterheld's daughters were pregnant at the time of their kidnapping. To this day, no one knows what happened to their unborn children, but they are believed to be among the and handed over to childless military officers, their true identities erased.
The three surviving members of the Oesterheld family have never stopped searching. Mart铆n Oesterheld's grandmother, Elsa, who raised him after his mother was killed, dedicated to finding their missing grandchildren. They became known as the .
Seizing on national interest in the TV series, the Grandmothers this month issued public appeals the disappeared grandchildren.
The response was overwhelming.
鈥淚t was incredible, it went viral,鈥� said Esteban Herrera, who works with the Grandmothers and is still searching for his own missing sibling. 鈥淪ince it鈥檚 a science-fiction series on a platform like Netflix, we鈥檙e reaching homes that the Grandmothers perhaps hadn鈥檛 before.鈥�
The outpouring of emails and calls raised more questions than answers. Reaching out were hundreds of Argentine viewers newly determined to find their own disappeared relatives or suddenly skeptical about .
鈥淭he Eternaut鈥� is a living memory, a classic story that's passed down from generation to generation,鈥� said Mart铆n Oesterheld. 鈥淔or it to be embraced by so many people in this way ... there is no greater social commentary.鈥�
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Isabel Debre, The Associated Press
