Spoiler notice: This article explains the opening situation and introduces the main characters. It does not reveal the culprit, later discoveries or the ending.
Playing a brilliant detective has one reassuring advantage: somebody else has already written the solution. Benjamin Basil loses that protection when a death turns an isolated hotel into a crime scene and places him in the uncomfortable position of having to investigate it.
The setting is a small island near Mallorca in the spring of 1959. A violent storm has stranded thirteen people, cutting off both departure and outside help. Then an English tourist, Elisa Mander, is found dead. What appears at first to be a suicide begins to look like murder.
Basil, played by Jose Coronado, once portrayed Sherlock Holmes on screen. That connection draws the retired actor into a real investigation, where the people around him have considerably more at stake than delivering a convincing performance.
He joins forces with Foxá, an aspiring thriller writer played by Martiño Rivas. Among the people caught in the mystery are Adela Figueroa, portrayed by María Valverde, and the hotel’s manager, Mrs. Ausländer, played by Maribel Verdú. Both guests and employees fall under suspicion.
The actor-and-writer partnership gives the premise its most interesting complication. Both men have a connection to fictional crime. That familiarity offers a way of thinking about the case, but it also invites a dangerous question: could an explanation seem convincing simply because it resembles a good story?
For viewers, that is a useful distinction to keep in mind. A persuasive account of events still needs evidence. Confidence, theatrical presence and an instinct for suspense cannot establish what actually happened to Elisa.
The island setting adds another pressure. An isolated hotel makes suspicion personal: the people sharing the building are also the people whose accounts must be questioned. The audience has a contained group to consider, while Basil must navigate the difference between observing someone and deciding that they are guilty.
That arrangement should appeal to readers who enjoy mysteries built around conflicting explanations and close attention to character. The central attraction is the task imposed on an unlikely investigator. Basil has a famous fictional detective in his professional past; the immediate problem is whether he can think clearly when there is no script to guide him.
Directed by Félix Viscarret and adapted from Arturo Pérez-Reverte’s novel, The Final Problem is a four-episode Spanish limited series. It began streaming on Netflix on September 25, 2026.
Trusted sources: Netflix’s official story announcement · Official trailer and production details · Watch on Netflix