Netflix will premiere "Palacio" on 6 November 2026, a Colombian series in eight parts about the seizure of Bogotá's Palacio de Justicia (Palace of Justice) by the M-19 guerrilla group and the army's subsequent recapture of the building. The date is deliberate: it falls on the 41st anniversary of the first of the two days that defined the episode.
On 6 November 1985, an M-19 commando forced its way into the Palacio de Justicia, on the Plaza de Bolívar, and held more than 300 people, among them justices of the Supreme Court. The Colombian Army retook the building on 7 November. Consolidated official records put the toll at at least 94 people dead or disappeared, including civilians, judges, soldiers and guerrillas.
What the series covers
According to the synopsis released by Netflix, the drama does not stop at the roughly 27 hours of the siege and the recapture: it also follows the victims' families in their search for justice over more than two decades. The production drew on more than seven years of research, using documents, testimony and interviews.
The showrunner and head writer is Natalia Santa, joined in the writers' room by Enrique Videla, Enrique Lozano, Jenny Ceballos and Estefanía Piñeres. Three directors share the series: Guatemala's Jayro Bustamante, Mexico's Edgar Nito and Colombia's Samir Oliveros.
The producer is the Colombian company Dynamo, founded in 2006, with Mariana Berenguer and Mirlanda Torres producing and Andrés Calderón and Torres as executive producers.
Who plays whom
The cast reconstructs real figures from the siege and from the years that followed:
- Natalia Reyes as Pilar Navarrete, one of the voices of the families of the disappeared;
- Robinson Díaz as then president Belisario Betancur;
- Santiago Alarcón as Alfonso Reyes Echandía, president of the Supreme Court in 1985;
- Carlos Manuel Vesga as retired colonel Alfonso Plazas Vega;
- Nicole Santamaría as prosecutor Ángela María Buitrago and Andrés Castañeda as lawyer Eduardo Umaña;
- Luna Baxter as journalist Olga Behar and Irina Loaiza as guerrilla fighter Irma Franco.
The cast also includes Mariana Gómez, Camilo Amores, Jacobo Millán, Santiago Londoño, José Restrepo, Nicolás Montero, Rafael Zea, Valentina Acosta, Nelson Camayo, Jaisson Jeack and Carlos Vergara, among others.
A 4,000-square-metre set in Bogotá
Shooting took place mainly in Bogotá, on a set of more than 4,000 square metres that included a 30-metre structure reproducing the Palacio's facade. Building it took over three months. The production was granted Colombia's Certificado de Inversión Audiovisual (CINA), an incentive that gives a 35% tax discount on audiovisual services contracted in the country.
When the first trailer was released in October, Natalia Reyes wrote on social media that "41 years on, telling this story is more urgent than ever", adding that the series is not about trials but about "the many questions that remain open".
With information from Netflix, El Tiempo and Semana.
