Netflix’s new six-episode thriller “The Eternaut” has turned an Argentine cult comic into a global binge, vaulting to No. 1 among the platform’s non-English-language series days after its 30 April debut. Starring national icon Ricardo Darín as reluctant hero Juan Salvo, the Spanish-language drama follows survivors of a toxic snowfall that heralds an alien invasion over Buenos Aires.
Director-showrunner Bruno Stagnaro, who first read the 1957 graphic novel at age ten, said the project came with “a huge legacy, a heavy weight, and high expectations—especially here in our country.” Netflix shot the US $15 million production entirely in the Argentine capital after securing the estate’s insistence on local language and setting. The series headlines the streamer’s “Made in Argentina” slate, which aims to “export culture,” according to Latin-America content chief Francisco Ramos.
Success has already spurred more episodes. Ramos confirmed plans for a second, eight-part season that will “dig into sci-fi concepts just sketched in season one,” while producer Matías Mosteirin said the story will conclude there. Rotten Tomatoes lists a 95 percent critics’ score, yet some fans on Argentine forums complain of altered character backstories and “over-politicised” subtext.
Political resonance has, in fact, boosted viewership. Protesters opposed to President Javier Milei’s austerity cuts have adopted the show’s mantra “No one gets through it alone,” brandishing gas-mask imagery from the series at marches. Communications scholar Leonardo Murolo argues the adaptation taps “markers of national identity” that naturally invite debate in a country that “deals with politics all the time.”
The drama also revives darker history. Creator Héctor Germán Oesterheld and his four daughters were “disappeared” during Argentina’s 1976-83 dictatorship; two daughters were pregnant. Human-rights group Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo is using the series’ spotlight to appeal for information on the missing grandchildren, stressing that “these crimes continue until identities are restored,” spokesperson Claudia Victoria Poblete Hlaczik said.
For executive producer and grandson Martín Oesterheld, the adaptation is both homage and civic reminder. “The Eternaut,” he noted, is proving that a 1950s sci-fi fable about collective survival can still mobilise audiences—on-screen and in the streets.
