Cousins José Arcadio Buendía and Úrsula Iguarán are married against their family's wishes. Úrsula initially refuses to consummate the marriage, fearing that their children will be born with birth defects. After José Arcadio kills Prudencio Aguilar in a duel, he and Úrsula are haunted by Prudencio's ghost, forcing them to leave town and find a new home. As José Arcadio, Úrsula, and several of their friends trek through the wilderness, Úrsula goes into labor and delivers a baby boy named José Arcadio. They eventually establish the small village of Macondo, where they are visited by Melquíades and his band of Gypsies. With Melquíades's inventions, José Arcadio becomes withdrawn, immersing himself into science and exploration, while Úrsula gives birth to a second son, Aureliano.
2
"It's Like an Earthquake" (Es como un temblor de tierra)
Alex García López
11 December 2024 (2024-12-11)
Macondo grows into a small town. The Gypsies return, and Melquíades introdruces José Arcadio to alchemy, causing him to withdraw further into his obsessions. When the Gypsies return once more, they inform José Arcadio that Melquíades is dead. Úrsula gives birth to a third child, a daughter named Amaranta. Meanwhile, their older son, José Arcadio, is molested by Pilar Ternera and later impregnates her. Despite this, he falls in love with a Gypsy girl and runs off with her, leaving Pilar and his family heartbroken. Úrsula spends five months searching for her son, but returns after discovering civilization on the other side of the swamp. Pilar gives birth to a baby boy, Arcadio, and José Arcadio and Úrsula raise him as their own.
3
"A Daguerreotype of God" (Un daguerrotipo de Dios)
Alex García López
11 December 2024 (2024-12-11)
Following his brother's departure, Aureliano becomes isolated, spending his days in his father's laboratory. Rebeca, a young orphan, arrives at the Buendía home carrying a bag of her parents' bones. She is initially feral, but quickly assimilates into the family, making Amaranta jealous. However, Rebeca soon falls ill with the insomnia plague and spreads it to the entire town. As the plague worsens, residents begin to experience amnesia, sending the town into chaos, but Melquíades returns from the dead with an antidote that quickly cures everyone.
Years later, Melquíades introduces the Buendías to the daguerreotype, and José Arcadio becomes obsessed with using it to capture God's image. Pietro Crespi arrives at the Buendía home to install a pianola, and both Rebeca and Amaranta vie for his affections. The Colombian government appoints Apolinar Moscote as the magistrate of Macondo, angering José Arcadio.
José Arcadio and his men run Apolinar Moscote out of town, but he later returns with his family and a band of soldiers. Aureliano falls in love with Apolinar's youngest daughter, Remedios, while Rebeca exchanges love letters with Pietro. After a night out with his friends, Aureliano blacks out and loses his virginity to Pilar. Pietro asks for Rebeca's hand in marriage, to the disappointment of Amaranta, who begins to self-harm and threaten suicide. Aureliano asks for Remedios's hand in marriage, but must wait until she comes of age. Melquíades dies, sending Macondo into a period of mourning. To cope with the loss of Melquíades, José Arcadio immerses himself back into science and gradually slips into insanity. When he becomes violent and destructive, the men tie him to a chestnut tree in his backyard.
5
"Remedios Moscote"
Laura Mora
11 December 2024 (2024-12-11)
Aureliano and Remedios are married, while Rebeca's wedding to Pietro is postponed. As a daughter-in-law, Remedios brings sweetness and joy to the Buendía household, even tending to José Arcadio, who remains tied to the tree and only speaks in Latin. Pilar gives birth to Aureliano's son, Aureliano José, and he and Remedios raise him as their own. Despite Macondo's secular history, the Moscotes fund the construction of a church in town. Apolinar persuades Arcadio to oversee Macondo's school, which gives him purpose. Not knowing his parentage, he tries to rape Pilar, but she instead arranges for him to have sex with Santa Sofía de la Piedad, a young virgin. Remedios falls pregnant with twins, but dies from a blood infection. The family enters a mourning period that is cut short by the return of the Buendías' oldest son, José Arcadio.
"Arcadio and the Liberal Paradise" (Arcadio y el paraíso liberal)
Alex García López
11 December 2024 (2024-12-11)
8
"So Many Flowers Fell From the Sky" (Tantas flores cayeron del cielo)
Alex García López
11 December 2024 (2024-12-11)
Production
Development
Netflix acquired the rights to One Hundred Years of Solitude in March 2019.[2] Prior to author Gabriel García Márquez's death in 2014, he had refused to sell the rights to the novel as he did not believe the time constraints of a film were sufficient for a proper adaptation.[3][4] The series was filmed with the support of García Márquez's family, who requested that it be shot in Colombia, with Colombian actors, and in Spanish.[5] The producers scouted several locations in Colombia, including Cali, Villavicencio, Girardot, Palomino, Santa Marta, and Barranquilla.[6]
As a filmmaker, as a Colombian, it has been an honor and an enormous challenge to work on a project of the complexity and responsibility of One Hundred Years of Solitude, always trying to understand the difference between literary and audiovisual language, to be able to construct images that contain something of the beauty, poetry and depth of a work that has impacted the entire world. We have done it with love and respect for the novel, with the help of an exceptional technical and human team.
The cast was chosen through an open casting call in mid-2022.[8] The casting team saw over 10,000 candidates for the 25 main roles.[9] Only 30% of the cast comprises professional actors.[10] In addition to the main cast, 20,000 extras were also selected for filming.[11] The cast was partially leaked on 26 April 2023.[12]
Filming
Principal photography took place from May to December 2023.[13] The series was filmed entirely in Colombia,[14][15] specifically in La Guajira, Magdalena, Cesar, Cundinamarca, and Tolima.[16] The fictional town of Macondo was built near Alvarado, and required the labor of 1,100 workers.[6] Four versions of the town were built to show the passage of time as the series progresses.[13] The producers purchased furniture from local antique stores and had fabrics and artifacts made by local artisans for the sets.[9] Filming required a crew of nearly 600 people, all from Colombia.[17]
Netflix reported that series' production generated 225 billion COP ($51.8 million USD) for Colombia's economy.[18]
The first season, comprising eight episodes, was released in its entirety on Netflix on 11 December 2024.[24] A second season, also comprising eight episodes, is also planned.[25]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 83% of 24 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.7/10. The website's consensus reads: "One Hundred Years of Solitude faithfully realizes Gabriel García Márquez's seminal novel with sumptuous polish, making for an adaptation that is nothing short of magical."[26] On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 79 out of 100, based on 11 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[27]
Keith Watson of The Telegraph rated the series five stars out of five, calling it a "faithful but not overly reverent take on Márquez". He commended the cast's performances, specifically those of Marleyda Soto [es] and Claudio Cataño.[28] Helen Coffey of The Independent called the series "pretty much perfect" and "nothing short of miraculous". She commended the series' creators for staying faithful to the source material while creating "a piece of visually gorgeous storytelling". She also commended the casting, script, cinematography, and music.[29] Julio Ricardo Varela of MSNBC wrote that the series provides "countless moments of brilliance that prove creating art from other works of art is still possible." He commended the performances of the entire cast, specifically Soto, Cataño, and Marco Antonio González, and noted the care that seemed to have gone into the series' production.[30] Judy Berman of Time wrote, "Considering the difficulty of the assignment, it's remarkable how close Netflix's splendid One Hundred Years of Solitude . . . comes to recreating not just the substance, but also the kinetic spirit of the book." She noted that the series successfully conveyed the story of the novel without oversimplifying its major themes, including the "ugly but symbolically meaningful aspects of the story, from self-harm to incest." She commended the series' production value, direction, and cinematography.[31]
Daniel Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter called the series a "gorgeous, ambitious adaptation" of the novel that is "honorable and beautiful, if not without flaws." He noted that much of the series' content was taken verbatim from the novel, which "doesn't always work" when acted onscreen and that "everything plays better when the show is at its most figurative and least literal." He commended García López and Mora's direction, calling the series "breathlessly beautiful at times, lyrical and alive and brimming with visual and intellectual ideas." He ultimately concluded that "One Hundred Years of Solitude may not be as good as Underground Railroad or even Station Eleven, but it's a worthy and admirable capper for a year of often exceptional prestige adaptations."[32] Aramide Tinubu of Variety called the series "exquisitely detailed and layered in intricate symbolism" and "one of the most faithful page-to-screen adaptations in recent years." She commended the cast's performances as "exceptional", but noted that certain sequences felt dense. Although she felt that the series' pacing felt "too lackadaisical at times", she noted that "the beauty of One Hundred Years of Solitude allows the viewer to absorb every intricately curated frame and moment."[33] Carly Lane of Collider called the series "a masterpiece in its own right" and wrote, "Not only does the Spanish-language series breathe new life into Márquez's supposedly unfilmable novel, but it also succeeds as a triumph of filmmaking thanks to stunning cinematography and an epic story that spans across multiple generations of the ill-fated Buendía family." She commended the visuals of Paulo Pérez and María Sarasvati, the production design of Eugenio Caballero and Bárbara Enríquez [pt], and the ensemble's performance.[34]
Jack Seale of The Guardian rated the series three stars out of five, writing that it "might struggle with the novel's problematic sexual politics, but it's a big, gorgeous adaptation.[35] Ed Potton of The Times rated the series two stars out of five, calling it "gorgeous but lethargic" and writing that it "lacks the vibrancy and energy of the novel". He commended the production design of Caballero and Enríquez, but noted that the series struggled to translate magic realism to the screen.[36]
