Disney Plus' new drama is doing something different: daily drops of soapy Spanish show Return To Las Sabinas

2 weeks ago 12

(Image credit: Disney Plus)

The best streaming services tend to approach new episodes in different ways, so while Netflix has long offered entire seasons in single binge-worthy bursts the likes of Prime Video and Apple TV Plus prefer to drop new episodes once a week. And now Disney Plus is getting in on the act with yet another way of scheduling seasons. Its new Spanish drama Return to Las Sabinas, the first five episodes of which are already available, will be getting one new episode every day for the next 65 days.

That's a lot of days and a lot of episodes for a streaming show, but Return to Las Sabinas is drawing from something already well established: the soapy dramas delivered daily by TV networks in most of the world. So while this is new territory for streaming and the best Disney Plus shows, it's very familiar to fans of daytime TV dramatics.

What is Return to Las Sabinas about?

It's about 50 hours – ho ho! The show is billed as an original daily melodrama in the vein of popular telenovelas, and it follows two sisters, Gracia and Paloma, who return to their childhood home to care for their father. There, Gracia reconnects with her first love – but her first love is engaged to somebody else, and his brother is still in love with Gracia. Drama, inevitably, ensues.

Telenovelas and similarly low-budget daytime dramas tend to be famed for their wobbly sets and wooden performances, but this show looks different: Deadline reports that it had a much bigger budget, a much longer shooting schedule and much more post-production time than typical daytime dramas. Director Jordi Frades says that "we want the people to find love, passion, drama, comedy and everything they like in a daily show, but maybe with a little upgrade”.

Return To Las Sabinas is streaming now on Disney Plus around the world and on Hulu in the US.

Contributor

Writer, broadcaster, musician and kitchen gadget obsessive Carrie Marshall has been writing about tech since 1998, contributing sage advice and odd opinions to all kinds of magazines and websites as well as writing more than a dozen books. Her memoir, Carrie Kills A Man, is on sale now and her next book, about pop music, is out in 2025. She is the singer in Glaswegian rock band Unquiet Mind.

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