MADRID — Morena Films, one of Spain’s biggest independent movie-TV producers, is set to develop and produce a slice of high school noir: A drama series inspired by the country’s YA “La Chica Invisible” trilogy, in which a hyper-intelligent pupil, Julia, 16, battles adolescence and the challenges of solving the murder of a fellow student.
Written by Blue Jeans, the pseudonym of the Seville-born Francisco de Paula Fernández González, the first book in the trilogy, “La chica invisible,” was published in 2018 by Editorial Planeta, Spain’s bigest publishing house. It turns on Julia, who loves chess, solving puzzles and hanging out with her best friend, the blue-haired Emilio. But her live changes when the corpse of Aurora, known as “the invisible girl,” is discovered in the institute’s changing rooms. Julia decides to investigate, parallel to the police, putting her life in danger.
Morena Films has optioned the rights to the whole trilogy, it announced Thursday. This takes in the second novel, “El puzle de cristal,” and the soon-to-be-published third, “La promesa de Julia.”
“When I read the first novel in the trilogy, I didn’t have the slightest doubt that there was a series there,” said Morena Films producer Pedro Uriol. As a character, he added, “Julia, the protagonist, has huge potential, initiating a journey towards adulthood, enduring the conflicts of adolescence, as she attempts to resolve a homicide. The crime plot gives the story a frenetic pace in a high school where everybody has secrets, everybody looks guilty, and everybody is a suspect.”
“I’m very happy, but it’s my readers who will be really happy, given they’ve asked me so many times when a series will be made based on these novels,” Blue Jeans added.
News of the “Chica Invisible” trilogy comes as Spanish Netflix smash hit series “Elite,” another high-school -set coming of age crime thriller, was announced by TV Time to be the most binged series in the world on the premiere of both Seasons 2 and Season 3, the latter on March 13 this year.