But before all that, Alonso sits down with EL PA\u00cdS for nearly an hour of unhurried conversation in which the actor weighs every word. \u201cI feel like I\u2019m going to be overcome with emotion in unexpected ways,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Question. Why did you decide to leave the character of Berlin?<\/p>\n
Answer. I\u2019ve been on a journey of reconnecting with my intuition over the years. At no point in these nine years, until this past year, had I felt I had to close this chapter. I did have doubts at various times about whether I could sustain the character. But last year was very tough; filming was very demanding, both physically and psychologically. It coincided with the illness and death of someone who had been with me throughout my entire professional career, Clara Heyman, my only agent. <\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t realize the impact it was having on me on every level until I finished filming. I have the feeling that I\u2019ve completed an enormous cycle of life with a character who has allowed me to soar<\/a>, and that the best way to honor everything that has happened to me was to let it go. It was about making the decision and feeling my life move forward completely. It\u2019s a matter of feeling it in your bones, knowing that to live life, you have to understand that there are phases, and that there are several lives in one life.<\/p>\n Q. You made the decision after filming the series. Does that mean there\u2019s no goodbye, no ending for the character? <\/p>\n A. \u00c1lex Pina<\/a> [co-creator of the series] has always been very meticulous about ensuring that all the pieces were consistent. Nobody knew I was going to make that decision during filming, but I think it\u2019s a natural ending. It leaves seeds that connect with the entire mechanism of what was in Money Heist.<\/p>\n Q. How did \u00c1lex Pina and Esther Mart\u00ednez Lobato, the creators of the series, respond to the news?<\/p>\n A. I had a truly moving meeting with them. I didn\u2019t want them to feel bad. They\u2019ve really inspired me; they\u2019ve given me confidence. It\u2019s a gift from life when someone fuels you and keeps fueling you \u2014 it\u2019s something you have to honor. Yes, it\u2019s true that it hasn\u2019t left them indifferent, but I\u2019ve felt a lot of empathy from them on a human and personal level. We\u2019ve experienced incredible things together, and that\u2019s what we\u2019ll take with us.<\/p>\n Q. Didn\u2019t they try to convince you to change your mind?<\/p>\n A. [Laughs heartily and takes a few seconds to answer] Well, obviously not everyone has felt the same way. Concha Velasco once told me: \u201cYou don\u2019t walk away from a hit, Pedro, you don\u2019t walk away from a hit.\u201d But I also feel, although I don\u2019t know if this phrase is mine or if I said it in the series, that the best way to honor love is through absence, and sometimes the best way to honor a success is by leaving. There\u2019s a sense of responsibility for what I\u2019ve done, but there\u2019s no calculation involved; it has nothing to do with some intellectual strategy for my life. I\u2019m not an actor who says, \u201cI want to play a different character every time.\u201d No, what I want is to have a connection with what I\u2019m doing, and to feel that there\u2019s a fuel that compels me to strengthen my commitment. Leaving has to do with this commitment, but also with the saga and the role. And it came from the gut, I felt a click in my gut, and I\u2019m listening to my gut more and more.<\/p>\n Q. Looking back now, how do you see this life cycle that is coming to an end for you?<\/p>\n A. Sometimes I feel like the replicant from Blade Runner. I\u2019ve lived through things you wouldn\u2019t believe. The landscapes I\u2019ve crossed, the miles I\u2019ve traveled, the incredible moments I\u2019ve experienced, the doors and windows that have opened\u2026 I\u2019ve lived nine years in a state of wonder. Nothing and no one could have prepared me for everything that\u2019s happened. <\/p>\n It\u2019s been a very seductive phenomenon, yes, but also transformative in terms of personal growth<\/a> \u2014 observing human nature, my own and that of many colleagues, and of the people who came into my life along the way. I\u2019m grateful that the start of the saga caught me at a time when I was realizing that the most important thing was to take care of myself, that the price this profession exacts does matter. I\u2019ve taken great care of myself and tried to balance the overwhelming moments of exposure with moments of retreat. I\u2019ve traveled extensively, I\u2019ve been to the Amazon, I\u2019ve published a book, I\u2019ve written for newspapers, I\u2019ve produced and directed, I\u2019ve dedicated myself to taking care of myself and deconstructing myself\u2026<\/p>\n Q. Do you know where your next cycle is headed?<\/p>\n A. I directed and produced a very niche, very particular documentary series [titled On the Ship of Enchantment], connected to my desire to inhabit my own work. It was an incredible four-year journey of immense learning. Also, in the last 10-12 years, I\u2019ve written a lot, mostly non-fiction, and suddenly I felt I wanted to take the step into fiction writing. I started working with Paco Bezerra; we\u2019ve been working together for a year and a half and are finishing a first draft of a fiction screenplay that I want to direct. <\/p>\n I see myself as very eclectic, very cross\u2011disciplinary. I don\u2019t want to stop acting or approach it with prejudice, but I do feel the need to inhabit material I\u2019m directly connected to, so I\u2019m going to try to take a strong step in that direction. And after several attempts where I didn\u2019t quite see it, I\u2019ve said yes to a job in English. There\u2019s been a kind of small revolution inside me. You never know what\u2019s going to happen, but it gives me that fizz in the stomach that you need to evolve \u2014 the good kind of fear.<\/p>\n Q. Have you discovered things about yourself in Berlin that you didn\u2019t know before?<\/p>\n A. Berlin is like an energetic, narrative, acting\u2011driven magic carpet. It has allowed me to delve deeper into my way of seeing and doing things, also as an actor. The sense of breath, timing, listening, pausing\u2026 Seen in retrospect, it has allowed me to explore aspects of communication, interpretation, and storytelling that greatly interest me. It\u2019s a character that may seem very contrived, but I think the core of it comes from a certain kind of listening, a certain presence, a kind of deceleration that triggers things. The most incredible part of an actor\u2019s work begins when you\u2019re able to stay still and do nothing, when you\u2019re able to be in the listening. The Money Heist and Berlin saga<\/a> is a project with a whole apparatus and a wild sense of mechanism, of fireworks, but at its center, there\u2019s an animal that scrutinizes life at another speed. I don\u2019t want to sound pretentious, but I once read that this job is about stopping time. And Berlin is a machine for stopping time.<\/p>\n Q. You are a very spiritual person. What does that world bring you, and how does that connect with the film and TV industry?<\/p>\n A. I think it was Ben Kingsley who said that the actor\u2019s work was like that of those cavemen who, around a fire, began to tell stories to neutralize their fear when night fell and to connect with something greater than all that fear. There\u2019s a part of that ancient discourse that resonates with me. But although that might sound very spiritual and very solemn, it has to do with something very rudimentary and primal. I am spiritual, and I have this yearning for a very simple impulse: I want to look myself in the eyes, and look into the eyes of others and feel that I am here.<\/p>\n Q. Would you take on a character for as long as you played Berlin \u2014 nine years?<\/p>\n A. What life has taught me is that no one can predict what\u2019s going to happen to them. What I am clear about, though, are some of my goals. Berlin has been with me all these years, but he\u2019s also allowed me to do so many things. He didn\u2019t lock me inside my own workshop \u2014 he threw me out into the world, took me to unbelievable places, opened the doors of incredible people\u2019s homes, introduced me to extraordinary individuals, brought fantastic opportunities my way. I can go to many places now, and I know people will listen to me.<\/p>\n Q. Are you mentally prepared for this week of goodbyes?<\/p>\n A. I honestly don\u2019t know. Today I remembered times when, after filming a season, someone would say to me, \u201cPedro, say something.\u201d And suddenly I was overwhelmed by emotions in a way that was quite shocking to me. I\u2019m very at peace with the decision I\u2019ve made, but as I was walking earlier, or even talking to you now, I realize this week is dangerous \u2014 I can feel an ocean of things underneath. I\u2019m sure that at some point it\u2019s going to become very intense. I\u2019ve received so much affection, so much understanding, and respect for this character. Feeling myself let him go has shaken me, and I want to thank people \u2014 all those who have looked at me, sometimes letting me in, sometimes not. <\/p>\n I\u2019m glad that such a paradoxical, ambivalent, even dangerous character by certain standards has been understood as a non\u2011moralistic invitation to talk about what brushes up against the human condition. I\u2019ve never said Berlin is an example, but he is a catalyst for emotions. Fiction and storytelling aren\u2019t meant to make you think \u201ccorrectly,\u201d but to make you feel \u2014 and then you decide what to do with what you feel. If it has served that purpose, if it has been a warm breath for people in their lonely hours in these times of noise and fury, then I\u2019m deeply honored, and thank you all.<\/p>\n![\"Pedro](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/G7EEAF6P5ZEXPI6WOXI5547DRI.jpg\")
Pedro Alonso in the first episode of ‘Berlin and the Lady with the Ermine.’FELIPE HERN\u00c1NDEZ\/NETFLIX<\/p>\n![\"Pedro](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/ZJZBWHK6VRHDZOKVZH2HNYZD4M.jpg\")
The second season of ‘Berlin,’ starring Pedro Alonso, takes the band of thieves to Seville.FELIPE HERNANDEZ\/NETFLIX<\/p>\n![\"Pedro](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/SLNLNRZCQJF2LBRWEGST7N7LRU.jpg\")
The actor Pedro Alonso says goodbye to the character of Berlin, whom he has portrayed in Money Heist and in his own series.FELIPE HERN\u00c1NDEZ\/NETFLIX<\/p>\n