Acting is such a peculiar career because it involves inhabiting a character usually different from the actor. Some performers have struggled to separate themselves from the characters they have played and the lines blur. And when someone does it for a while or on a big platform, letting go can be even harder. But it’s not always bad news, because sometimes playing a certain character exposes an actor to a different world, and they learn something useful later on.
That’s what happens to Basil (Jose Coronado) in Netflix‘s murder mystery premiering this week. The year is 1959, and a group of people is isolated near an island in Mallorca, Spain. As the storm rages outside, making departure or arrival on the island impossible, one of the guests in the hotel where the group is sheltering is found dead. Everyone assumes Elisa Mander, a discreet tourist of English origin, committed suicide, but close inspection reveals this could be a murder. Enter Basil, a retired actor who once played Sherlock Holmes on the big screen. As the only person with any semblance of experience solving mysteries, he is tasked with finding out what happened to Elisa. Everyone is a suspect, but the investigation reveals something even more complicated than anyone expected.
That is the premise of The Final Problem, Netflix’s 4-part period thriller premiering on September 25. The series is based on Spanish author Arturo Pérez-Reverte’s novel of the same name and was written for television by Alberto Macías, Carlos Molinero, and Marisol Farré. Félix Viscarret directed all the episodes. Other cast members include María Valverde (Adela), Martiño Rivas (Foxá), Maribel Verdú (Auslander), Gonzalo de Castro (Fonseca), Cristina Kovani (Vicky), José Condessa (Toni), and Pepón Nieto (Seruya).
Collider Exclusive · 8 Questions · 2 Minutes
Which Netflix Character Would Be Your Best Friend?
Dustin · Emily · Wednesday · Gi-hun
Some friends drag you out of the house. Some sit with you on the worst night of your life. Netflix has written both, plus the one who tells you the truth you have been avoiding all week. Answer eight quick questions about how you actually do friendship, and find out which of them was always going to end up in your corner.
🧢Dustin(Stranger Things)
🗼Emily(Emily in Paris)
🕷️Wednesday(Wednesday)
🟢Gi-hun(Squid Game)
FIND YOUR BEST FRIEND →
01
How do you usually end up making a new friend?
The origin story says a lot about the friendship that follows it.
AWe got loud about the same obsession and never stopped.
BThey invited me somewhere before we had properly met.
CWe bonded over disliking exactly the same thing.
DThey noticed I was struggling and stayed with me.
NEXT QUESTION →
02
What is a perfect Saturday with your best friend?
Friendship is mostly built out of very ordinary hours.
AA ridiculous plan neither of us should attempt.
BSomewhere new, photographed heavily, ending very late.
CSomewhere quiet, few people, zero small talk.
DSomething simple, and a conversation that actually matters.
NEXT QUESTION →
03
You call them at two in the morning. What happens?
This is the real test of a friendship, and everybody knows it.
AThey are already putting their shoes on.
BThey answer instantly and turn it into a plan.
CThey answer and say something unflattering and true.
DThey listen for an hour and never check the time.
NEXT QUESTION →
04
What do you want from them when you are clearly wrong?
The best friendships are the ones that survive being corrected.
ASupport first. We can review the mistake later.
BA relentlessly positive reframe of the entire disaster.
CThe blunt version. Do not soften it for me.
DPatience, and no judgment about how I got here.
NEXT QUESTION →
05
What do your friends actually value about you?
The friend you attract says something about the friend you are.
AI am all in, always, about everything.
BI can turn almost any situation into a good time.
CI say the thing nobody else in the room will.
DI look after whoever is having the worst day.
NEXT QUESTION →
06
You have a falling out. How does it go?
How a friendship repairs itself matters more than how it breaks.
ALoudly, briefly, then back to normal by Tuesday.
BThey apologise first, enthusiastically, with a gift.
CCold silence, then one dry joke that fixes everything.
DWe talk until we both understand what actually happened.
NEXT QUESTION →
07
What do you actually need a best friend for?
Everybody is missing something. The right friend fills that gap.
ATo make my life bigger than it would be alone.
BTo push me out of the house and into my own life.
CTo catch me when I start lying to myself.
DTo be the person who never gave up on me.
NEXT QUESTION →
08
Ten years from now, what keeps the two of you close?
Eight questions in, this is the one that decides who you get.
AWe would still drop everything for each other, instantly.
BWe still make plans, and we still actually go.
CWe still cut through each other’s nonsense in one sentence.
DThey stood by me once when it cost them something.
REVEAL MY BEST FRIEND →
The Group Chat Has Spoken
Your Best Friend Is…
Four Netflix characters, four completely different ways of showing up
for somebody. This is the one who fits how you actually do friendship, and what having them in your
life would be like.
Stranger Things · Netflix · Since 2016
Dustin Henderson
You do not do friendship at half volume, and neither does he.
What you want is somebody who says yes to the plan before you have finished describing the
plan.
Dustin is the friend the entire show runs on: loyal past the point of sense,
enthusiastic about everything, and incapable of leaving anybody behind.
You have the same instinct. Your friendships are loud, specific and slightly ridiculous,
and they last for decades because of it.
He is also the one person who would take your strangest interest completely seriously,
which is far rarer than it sounds.
You would have a group chat. It would never once be quiet.
Emily in Paris · Netflix · Since 2020
Emily Cooper
You are the friend who makes things happen, and so is she.
Together you would be mildly exhausting to everyone around you and completely delighted with
yourselves.
Emily treats an ordinary Tuesday as something that could be turned into an occasion,
which is either the best or the worst quality in a friend depending on your energy
levels.
You share her refusal to sit still. Neither of you has ever accepted a night in when
something was happening somewhere else.
She is far more loyal than people give her credit for. She defends her friends loudly,
publicly, and occasionally before checking the facts.
She would post the photo without asking. You would forgive her, because it is a very
good photo.
Wednesday · Netflix · Since 2022
Wednesday Addams
You have no patience for pleasant lies, and she has no ability to
tell them. What looks like coldness from the outside is the most reliable friendship on this
list.
Wednesday never says a kind thing she does not mean, which makes the rare ones count for
an enormous amount.
You would rather be told the truth than be made comfortable. She is constitutionally
incapable of offering you anything else.
Underneath all of it she is ferociously protective. She simply refuses to make a
performance out of caring.
Do not expect a birthday message. Do expect her to ruin anyone who wrongs you.
Squid Game · Netflix · 2021–2025
Seong Gi-hun
You look after whoever is having the worst day. So does he. It is
the least strategic way to move through the world and the best possible quality in a friend.
Gi-hun is not the strongest player in Squid Game, or the cleverest. He is the one who
keeps choosing to protect somebody else, over and over, at genuine cost to himself.
You have the same instinct. You notice who is struggling and you stay with them, long
after anybody would blame you for leaving.
He is a flawed friend, and that is part of why it lands. He lets people down, then comes
back and tries again, which is more than most manage.
He would give you his last chance and never once mention that he had done it.
↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ
An Actor Channels Sherlock Holmes in ‘The Final Problem’
Netflix has already released the show’s trailer previewing events in the series. Basil is almost tricked into conducting the investigation, but after noticing that some things about the victim’s alleged suicide don’t add up, he gets even more invested. For example, she was dolled up as if preparing for something major, and people don’t dress up to commit suicide. Basil’s suspicions of other guests are not taken too kindly because no one wants to be accused of murder. He is criticized for trying to recapture his glory days as Sherlock Holmes by pretending to be him. There are also concerns because a person who has killed once could strike again.
The Final Problem arrives on Friday, September 25. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.