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The Eternaut season 1 is a science fiction series based on the 1957 Argentine graphic novel, El Eternauta by Héctor Germán Oesterheld and Francisco Solano López. The story follows Juan Salvo as he searches for his daughter through a snow-covered, post-apocalyptic Buenos Aires while trying to survive an invisible alien threat. Directed and co-written by Bruno Stagnaro, the series premiered on Netflix on April 30, 2025.
The lead role of Juan Salvo is played by Ricardo Darín. The supporting cast includes Carla Peterson, César Troncoso, Andrea Pietra, Ariel Staltari, Marcelo Subiotto, Mora Fisz, Claudio Martínez Bel, and Orianna Cárdenas.
The Eternaut season 1 is set in Buenos Aires, where a toxic snowfall kills everything it touches. Survivors, including Juan Salvo, struggle to navigate a city under siege and fight an unseen threat. As the snowfall spreads, Salvo becomes a key figure in the resistance. The adaptation stays close to the comic’s original storyline while using contemporary technology to recreate its dystopian atmosphere.
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Filmed entirely in Buenos Aires, The Eternaut season 1 uses real locations and virtual sets to portray a dystopian world devastated by a deadly snowfall. The series was filmed throughout the city of Buenos Aires, including Avenida General Paz, the Saavedra neighborhood, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, and other federal district landmarks.
The Eternaut season 1: Filming locations
Buenos Aires, Argentina
The Eternaut season 1 was shot completely in Buenos Aires, blending actual city locations with digital enhancements. The Federal District, home to various government structures and historic sites, significantly contributed to the city's visual ambiance. Director Bruno Stagnaro characterized the city as "a vibrant entity, nearly like an additional character" (Tudum), highlighting the crucial role of Buenos Aires in ensuring the story’s authenticity.
Places like Plaza de Mayo, the Palace of Congress, and the Obelisk were either captured on film or digitally altered to depict a dystopian portrayal of the city. These renowned locations highlighted the disparity between well-known urban features and the devastating snowfall impacting them.
Avenida General Paz
Avenida General Paz, a significant roadway surrounding Buenos Aires, was essential in shooting extensive scenes that showcased the scale of the catastrophe. In June 2023, production teams converted the northern area of the highway, adjacent to the neighborhoods of Núñez and Saavedra, as well as Vicente López Partido, into a post-apocalyptic scene.
The space included realistic aspects like deserted cars, synthetic snow, and armed troops to evoke feelings of urgency and seclusion. Extra visual effects, such as digitally enhanced snow and debris, were included in post-production to intensify the effect of these scenes and position the location as a visual focal point of the city’s downfall.
Saavedra neighborhood
In Saavedra, found at the city’s northern limit, the filming captured various significant action scenes, featuring fierce gun battles, blasts, and moments illustrating disorder following the snowfall. The configuration of the neighborhood facilitated the extensive utilization of deserted streets and structures, which were altered with practical effects like fake snow, flipped vehicles, rubble, and smoke devices.
To visually enhance the scale of destruction, blue and green screens were intentionally positioned to digitally extend backgrounds during post-production. Parts of the neighborhood were blocked off during filming in both June and October 2023 to enable smooth shooting of extensive scenes. These components contributed to strengthening the themes of isolation and urban decay in the narrative.
Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires
This central area of the city features several key survival scenes involving Juan Salvo and other characters as they navigate the deadly snowfall. Filming took place in abandoned buildings, alleyways, and empty streets to reflect the sense of isolation and threat that defines the series’ tone. The production team carefully selected specific blocks within the district for their visual consistency and logistical accessibility.
Practical set design, including debris placement and lighting adjustments, was paired with digital enhancements to reimagine the area as a desolate urban zone. Visual effects were added in post-production to intensify the snowfall and alter the skyline, maintaining the authenticity of the location while aligning it with the show’s post-apocalyptic setting.
Studio locations
Indoor and some outdoor scenes were filmed at Cacodelphia Studios, located at Brandsen 2057, C1287AAQ. The facility housed a cutting-edge virtual production stage over 10 meters in length, surrounded by curved high-definition LED panels. These panels were used to project more than 25 distinct digital environments developed through Unreal Engine technology.
The system gave the crew precise control over visual elements like snowfall, lighting intensity, sun angles, and urban backdrops, all in real time, eliminating the need to relocate sets physically. This level of control allowed the production to film multiple complex scenes consecutively, saving time while maintaining visual consistency.
Realistic snowfall was simulated using a combination of digital effects and physical materials. The setup enabled the actors to fully engage with the environments around them, supporting more natural performances in otherwise artificial scenarios.
The Eternaut season 1: Behind the scenes and production insights
Bruno Stagnaro directed and co-wrote The Eternaut season 1 with Ariel Staltari. Their aim was to remain faithful to the original comic while grounding the narrative in realism. According to Staltari in a Netflix Tudum interview published on May 1, 2025, one of the biggest challenges was recreating the emotional weight of the story for a modern audience without losing the tone of the time in which it was written.
Filming of The Eternaut season 1 began in Buenos Aires in May 2023 and lasted 148 days, concluding in December of the same year. Gastón Girod served as the director of photography. Saavedra hosted action sequences in both June and October 2023, with sets featuring practical snow, abandoned vehicles, and armed personnel.
Over 35 real-world locations were used during production, along with 25 virtual stages. The team used Unreal Engine to digitally scan parts of Buenos Aires and project them onto on-set LED screens, enabling seamless transitions between outdoor scenes. The COVID-19 pandemic restrictions also allowed for uninterrupted access to normally crowded city areas, helping replicate the desolate cityscape described in the comic.
To realistically portray the snowfall, five different types of artificial snow were developed for the production. Each was used for specific effects, such as kitchen salt for creating footprints and dried foaming soap to simulate falling snow. Post-production lasted for a year and a half.
Stagnaro emphasized the importance of designing and owning local digital environments rather than importing pre-set ones, given the Argentine roots of the story. These environments were later enhanced with input from foreign studios. Actor Ricardo Darín and others underwent physical training for action scenes. The use of both real locations and digital sets helped the series maintain a cohesive visual style and narrative realism.
What can we expect?
The Eternaut season 1 explores themes of survival, isolation, and resistance. It reflects on the fragility of systems and how people respond to invisible threats. In an interview with Netflix tudum published on May 1, 2025, Stagnaro stated that his goal was to capture the feeling he experienced as a child reading the original comic and to reconstruct that emotional adventure using modern tools and storytelling techniques.
The Eternaut season 1 presents a grounded interpretation of an alien invasion, focusing more on human emotion and decision-making under extreme conditions. Viewers can expect a combination of practical effects, digital environments, and character-driven storytelling rooted in a culturally significant Argentine story. The Eternaut season 1 is currently streaming on Netflix.
