La casa de papel premieres on Spanish free-to-air channel Antena 3

La casa de papel (known internationally as Money Heist) premiered on Antena 3, a Spanish free-to-air television network, on 2 May 2017. Created by Álex Pina and produced by Vancouver Media, it followed a criminal mastermind known as the Professor, who recruits a gang of eight to carry out an elaborate robbery at the Royal Mint of Spain in Madrid.

The cast included Úrsula Corberó, Álvaro Morte, Itziar Ituño and Pedro Alonso, with the gang members using the names of cities as aliases. The series was shown in a prime-time slot, but its audience in Spain was modest and fell during the run, so it was not an obvious breakout at the outset.

Its significance came afterwards. Netflix acquired the international rights, re-edited the episodes into a shorter format and released the story worldwide in late 2017. Viewers outside Spain embraced it, and the series grew into one of the platform's most-watched non-English productions. That path from a modest domestic broadcast to a global franchise is the background to the continuing spin-offs and Netflix's ongoing returns from the brand.