One Hundred Years of Solitude: Netflix to adapt Gabriel Garcia Marquez novel into TV series

The book has sold over 50 million copies in 46 different languages

Jack Shepherd
Thursday 07 March 2019 08:45 GMT
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Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez was known affectionately as 'Gabo'
Colombian writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez was known affectionately as 'Gabo'

Netflix has announced they are producing an adaptation of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's bestselling novel One Hundred Years of Solitude.

First published in 1967, the Spanish-language book is often called a masterpiece and has been translated into 46 languages. An estimated 50 million copies have sold worldwide.

"Netflix has acquired the rights to Gabriel Garcia Marquez's masterpiece One Hundred Years Of Solitude and will adapt it into a series," the streaming service confirmed in a statement.

"This marks the first and only time in more than 50 years that his family has allowed the project to be adapted for the screen."

There have been many attempts to purchase the right to adapt the series, but none have previously been successful. The Nobel Prize-winning novelist’s sons Rodrigo and Gonzalo García will reportedly act as executive producers on the series.

Speaking to The New York Times, Rodrigo revealed his father had received many offers but was concerned the story could not be contained with one, or even two, films. Gonzalo added that having the adaptation be in the Spanish language was a necessity.

“In the last three or four years, the level and prestige and success of series and limited series has grown so much,” García said.

“Netflix was among the first to prove that people are more willing than ever to see series that are produced in foreign languages with subtitles. All that seems to be a problem that is no longer a problem.”

One Hundred Years Of Solitude centres on the Buendía family over the course of a century. José Arcadio Buendía, the patriarch, founded the fictitious Colombian town of Macondo.

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Francisco Ramos, the vice president for Spanish language originals at Netflix, has said they are dedicated to hiring the best Latin American talent and the series would be shot in Columbia.

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