Stanley Tucci to Star in ‘La Fortuna,’ From AMC Studios, Movistar Plus, Alejandro Amenabar

Academy Award nominee Stanley Tucci (“The Lovely Bones,” “The Devil Wears Prada”) is set to star as a buccaneering treasure hunter in “La Fortuna,” a modern-day six-part adventure thriller from AMC Studios and Spain’s Movistar Plus, representing one of the most ambitious drama series to come out of Spain to date.

Linking AMC Studios to Spain’s biggest content investor, Movistar Plus, the pay TV division of telecom Telefonica, “La Fortuna” also marks the drama series directorial debut of “The Others” helmer Alejandro Amenábar, who won an Academy Award for “The Sea Inside.”

Now sporting an official title, the thriller also stars Spanish actors Álvaro Mel, who has appeared in several TV series such as Spanish public broadcaster Rtve’s “A Different View,” and Ana Polvorosa, star of Netflix Spanish hit “Cable Girls,” where she plays cross dresser Sara Millán.

“La Fortuna” will see Tucci take on the role of adventurer Frank Wild, who discovers the biggest shipwreck haul in history at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean.

Key international cast also takes in Clarke Peters, best known as detective Lester Freamon in David Simon’s “The Wire,” who plays an attorney who helps a neophyte Spanish diplomat Alex Ventura (Mel) attempt to reclaim the treasure for Spain.

T’Nia Miller, who recently played an ambitious accountant in “Years and Years,” will also appear as another attorney in a true-events inspired drama. Meanwhile, Spain’s Karra Elejalde, star of Amenábar’s latest hit film “While at War,” Manolo Solo (“The Fury of a Patient Man”), Blanca Portillo (“Volver”) and Pedro Casablanc (“Pain and Glory”) complete the main cast.

The drama is based on the Spanish graphic novella “The Treasure of the Black Swan” by Paco Roca and Guillermo Corral. The source material frames a huge legal battle between the U.S. and Spain over who really owns the recovered treasure.

Billed by Movistar Plus on Wednesday as an “epic adventure thriller that recovers the spirit and narrative of the best classics,” the series will shoot from August on location in Madrid, Cadiz, Zaragoza, Galicia and the Basque Country before moving for completion to North America in 2021.

As parts of Spain battle to contain a potential second wave of COVID-19, going into production on a series of the scale of “La Fortuna,” represents a serious undertaking.

Amenábar on Wednesday shared his first comments on his biggest production to date: “These days shooting a series such as this one is a big challenge that all our team takes on with enormous enthusiasm and responsibility.

“’La Fortuna’ is fundamentally about optimism and the will to fight. Alex Ventura’s journey is also ours. We aim to fully succeed, but above all we hope to offer the audience a good dose of excitement and entertainment next year,” he added.

AMC Studios’ first production with Movistar Plus, the series marks a bid by AMC to tap into Spanish drama series production as select Spanish titles break out to huge audiences around the world.

Co-written by Amenábar and Alejandro Hernández, and with Amenábar directing all six episodes, the drama completes Movistar Plus’s transition to premium, large-scale dramas.

The newest Movistar Plus series may also be made with leading international TV producers that, in the case of “La Fortuna,” also guarantee Movistar Plus one of its current priorities: muscular distribution outside Spain. “La Fortuna” will premiere in 2021 on AMC in the U.S., Canada, U.K, Latin America and the Caribbean as well as on Movistar Plus in Spain.