Netflix Latin America Sets Philip K. Dick Series ‘The Future Is Ours’

Principal photography is underway on Netflix Latin America’s first-ever Spanish adaptation of a Philip K. Dick novel, “The Future Is Ours” (“El futuro es nuestro”), based on his 1956 sci-fi novel “The World Jones Made.” Its showrunner, Spain’s Mateo Gil — whose notable writing credits include the Oscar-winning “The Sea Inside” — leads a stellar cast and crew from across the region.

“It’s one of our most ambitious and complex productions, at the same level of scale and complexity as ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’ or ‘The Eternaut,’” said Francisco Ramos, Netflix’s VP of content for Latin America.

“The idea — the core purpose of the series — is for it to be a truly Latin American show, not limited to any one geography or nationality. The main characters, under the pretext of massive migratory movements and the fact that the capital of this South American Federation is set in Asunción [Paraguay], come from all over the continent, giving us a broad and diverse range of backgrounds,” Gil told Variety.

Indeed, the cast includes Mexico’s Emiliano Zurita (“No One Saw Us Leave”); Argentina’s Delfina Chaves (“Máxima”) and Marco Antonio Caponi (“Yosi, the Regretful Spy”); Chile’s Alfredo Castro (“The Count”); Uruguay’s Enzo Vogrincic (“Society of the Snow”); and Marleyda Soto from Colombia (“One Hundred Years of Solitude”).

Vicente Amorim (“Senna,” Brazil), Jesús Braceras (“Barrabrava,” Argentina) and Daniel Rezende (“The Son of a Thousand Men,” Brazil) direct the series.

Set in the not-so-distant future, the eight-episode limited series begins in 2047 where a major ecological crisis has spawned FedSur, a coalition of South American countries that imposes draconian measures to safeguard the environment and combat widespread hunger and violence.

Out of this chaos, a new voice emerges on the web that claims he is capable of predicting the future. Police officer Hugo Crussi (Vogrincic) traces the voice to a young preacher, Jonas Flores (Zurita), and arrests him. But that only makes Flores even more powerful as he becomes a spiritual leader of the region overnight. Foreseeing FedSur’s fall and the region’s triumph over climate change, Jonás inspires millions of Latinos to join his reactionary revolution, while Crussí, hunted by the regime, undertakes a doomed mission to kill the religious tyrant who foresees his intent.

According to Gil, who co-wrote the adaptation with Laura Santullo (“A Monster With a Thousand Heads,” Uruguay), Camila Brugés Gómez (“One Hundred Years of Solitude”) and Kyzza Terrazas, (“Machete Language”), they removed all reference to alien invasions and mutant beings from the original, replacing it with a world shaped by collapsed economies.

“The series takes place between 2047 and 2051, and in its recent past — around the early 2030s — there was a major disruption of the global food system. That collapse led to state bankruptcies and total economic breakdown, plunging the world into extreme violence,” he explained.

For Ramos, choosing this particular story out of the many written by the prolific author was a no-brainer. “We all felt that ‘The World Jones Made’ resonated deeply, particularly because of its central idea: a man who can see the future. That theme, along with the figure of a prophetic character, felt especially powerful in a Latin American context. The way the story intertwines faith, art and the creation of an entire universe truly connected with us.”

“Yes, we thought this particular book would be something that was right for — I’m not going to call it a translation — really more of a transformation, because of course, it’s Latin American-centric,” said Isa Dick Hackett, executive producer and the author’s daughter who has been producing adaptations of her father’s work through her company Electric Shepherd Productions since 2007, including “A Scanner Darkly,” “The Man in the High Castle,” anthology series “Electric Dreams” and the upcoming “Blade Runner 2099“ with Scott Free and Alcon.

“We’d had a number of successful adaptations of his work prior, but it felt to me that there were certain filmmakers, sensibilities and a level of diversity that weren’t quite there — something I felt would be incredibly enriching and broaden the horizon of what we’ve seen and what we typically associate with my father’s work. So my aim is to really bring in unexpected voices, as I did in ‘Electric Dreams,’” she said.

Citing “One Hundred Years of Solitude” as a prime example of Netflix’s prowess, she added: “They’ve definitely shown that they can handle big productions, and this one is a really ambitious project. From what I’ve seen — especially compared to some of the U.S. productions I’ve worked on before — the amount of resources we have here is remarkable. We’re incredibly grateful for that, as it allows the project to be truly ambitious, even bigger than what you’d typically expect.”

“It’s a wonderful challenge and an absolute privilege for those of us involved to be able to take part in a series like this,” said Gil who said the series will be shooting in Argentina, Uruguay and lastly, Paraguay for some background shots.

“The Future Is Ours” is produced by K&S Films (“The Eternaut”) and Electric Shepherd Productions.

Its executive producers are Dick Hackett, Sarah Scougal, Matías Mosteirín, Diego Copello, Emiliano Torres, Micky Buye and Analía Castro.