Barcelona, ​​Spain - On the bustling streets of Raval, the halal butchers of the past, tattoo shops and generations of Catalan Cafés quietly turned the camera to a fantasy building where houses could be mosques, a novel restaurant that is the heart of Raval, the latest Spanish original series from Raval, Raval, Ravalear, Max.

The scene doesn't feel real, that's the point. Created by filmmaker Pol Rodríguez and experienced by his own family, running a popular neighborhood bar Can Can Lluis for more than a century, "Ravalear" is an original, immersive series that blends the language of the thriller and family drama genre with themistry and the sexuality, putting the audience into gentrification, identity and surviving Barcelona.

Max's new six-episode series is produced by Barcelona's Oscar-nominated "Robot Dream" producer Arcadia, and is scheduled to premiere in 2026. More than just another high-end European drama. It is a profound personal story about memory, community and quiet economic displacement. type Awarded Arcadia executive producer Sandra Tapia proudly shows how this ambitious vision can be brought to reality and introduces us to the people who brought this story to the screen.

“It all started in 2019,” explains the show host Rodríguez, sitting in a corner of Xixi Street, which is the main passageway for “Ravalear.” "My family has a restaurant that can be used to lluís for decades. A fund took over it and we lost it during the pandemic. There was guilt, anger, and I realized that this story could be adapted into a thriller as a thriller."

Indeed, “Ravalear” blends social realism with thrillers. It was a multi-generational family after he learned that his beloved restaurant was acquired by a powerful investment fund, so he decided to fight back. But this is not a simple story of the weak. “The role is morally complex,” Rodriguez said. “Heroes are not always right, and villains are not always wrong.”

The story is based on the current urban tensions: soaring rents, speculative real estate and cultural erasures. However, Rodriguez insists that the play is more than just a debate. “It’s about memory being related to progress,” he said. “What happens when the identity of a neighbor is erased for profit?”

"Ravalear" was filmed at the location of Raval itself, and other scenes were filmed on Montjuïc and Poblenou, blurring the line between the novel and the documentary. The street cast brought first-time actors like Noor-ul-Huda and Mohamed Ben Moula, who performed with Spanish heavyweights including Enric Auquer, María Rodríguez Soto, Francesc Orella and Sergi López.

Walking onto the scene is like entering a real street in Barrio. The rebuilt Can Mosques is not a studio structure, but a functional kitchen and dining room built within a real commercial space, although only during shooting. Local businesses and residents are extra, from script stages to production involving neighborhood associations, from setting dressings to dining helping everything.

“It’s a kind of primitive,” said Aiker, who plays one of the sons of a family. "It's powerful to see Bohr's actual family see us recreating their past. It's adding to everything we do."

Rodríguez and co-director Isaki Lacuesta – their last collaboration, Return of Saturn, won three Goyas in 2025 – embraced this immersive approach. "Of course it's confusing," Rodriguez said with a smile. "But it's a beautiful mess. Just like a restaurant during service, you have to embrace unpredictable sex."

True to its setup, "Ravalear" is multilingual. The scene changes naturally between Catalonia, Spain, Urdu, Arabic and English. “It reflects the soul of the community,” Rodriguez said. “You walk along a street in Raval and hear five languages. We want to respect that.”

For many actors, this polyphonic is a challenge and exciting. "Sometimes I'll do a scene in Spanish with someone who doesn't speak at all," Aiker said. "But we've made a connection. It's all body language and emotion. That's the magic of the movie."

While "Ravalear" is obviously political, its villains include a shady investment company whose heroes are heroes fighting to stay at home - despite the often blurred lines between them, Rodríguez and the actors carefully avoided doctrinalism. "It's not a speech," said Rodríguez Soto. "It's about people. People are complicated."

Rodríguez Soto plays the wife of the eldest son of the family. "She has a higher economic background," she explained. "She is fascinated by the world, they have built life together, people who fight each other. It's a love letter to the unity of the working class."

Rodríguez and Auquer are both attracted by the emotional truth of the script. “It’s more than just a building,” Ecker said. "It's about history. Identity. Part of the people you get along with when a place disappears."

Although deep in theme and language, "Ravalear" is expected to attract international attention. With Filmax handling global sales and MAX's range, the series seems doomed to cross the boundaries. But the creators didn't tailor it for export.

"We're not diluting anything," Rodriguez said. "In fact, I think the more specific we are, the more common the story is."

Okui agreed. "You see Danish drama or Latin American movies. When you tell stories truthfully, when you show the details of a particular community, that's when people everywhere know themselves."

The production process has been hard but exciting. "Thirty actors, five languages, non-actors, kids, kitchen, it's a mountain." "But that's exciting. We've been with some actors for over two years. That commitment level."

From kitchen food orchestration to tight night service, most of this effort is spent ensuring authenticity. “It’s like a ballet,” said the director who grew up in the restaurant world. "A wrong move, a broken plate, and all the spiral spirals. It's the perfect drama."

When "Ravalear" premieres on Max in 2026, it will be more than just a prestige series. It is a cry from the heart of the city and the besieged people, and it is also an original, almost autobiographical testimony from one of the country’s top filmmakers. This is a mirror of modern urban life that captures what happens when families, communities and culture collide with the cold logic of high-bourgeois metropolis.

As Rodríguez summed up: "I don't have an answer. I just want to ask the right questions. This series is the way I ask, what are we willing to lose in the name of progress?"