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Royal Mint of Spain Heist (Seasons 1 & 2):
Mint employees:
Arturo Román
Arturo Román
Played by: Enrique Arce
Voiced by: Brian Beacock (English)
The director of the Royal Mint during the first two seasons. Being a hostage in both heists (the latter case being because of his own behalf), he still has a sense of leadership and initiative, though it eventually gets the worse for him.
- Aesop Amnesia: In the middle of the first season, Arturo is devastated from grief and guilt over Mónica's apparent death because she was only following his plan. Once he learns Mónica is still alive, he goes right back to making half-assed escape "plans" and convincing or bullying the other hostages into helping him.
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: In the first season's twelfth episode, when Denver overpowers him in his attempted Cock Fight with the latter, Arturo begs him to not punch him in the face by saying his stress makes him do reckless mistakes. Denver only spares him when Arturo mentions that several hostages are executing his escape plan at the moment, forcing Denver to intervene with that.
- Attention Whore: Especially in Seasons 3 and 4, where he desperately tries to be seen as a hero.
- Blatant Lies: At the beginning of Season 3, Arturo has made his post-mint heist life talking about his "heroics" by the time the bank heist begins, even though we had already seen in the previous two seasons that he's a Dirty Coward who, while coming up with some of the plans, merely delegated them to other hostages without him participating in them whatsoever, and all of them backfired in some way.
- Butt-Monkey: He gets abused far more repeatedly than the other hostages. Justified, as he's a despicable, stubborn coward who doesn't really care about the other hostages and is just using them as a means to escape.
- Character Development: Of the negative type. While he's shown as a bad person from his first appearance, he still shows some significant redeeming qualities in the first few episodes, such as trying to convince the robbers to let go the most vulnerable hostages from early on, being more active in trying to find a way to escape and even changing his mind about not taking care of his child with Monica. However, as the series progresses, he becomes a bigger and bigger Glory Seeker, and his good traits eventually disappear.
- Cock Fight: In Episode 12 of Season 1, he deliberately starts a physical one against Denver in an attempt to get Mónica back. He ends up failing quickly, without landing any hit on Denver before the latter overpowers him and sends him begging Denver to not punch him in the face.
- Defiant Captive: Thoroughly deconstructed. He wishes to be seen as a brave and heroic leader to the other hostages, but comes off as nothing more than a cowardly and entitled Manchild. His increasingly desperate plans to escape and resist the robbers only make things worse for everyone including himself, and both heists eventually get to the point where even the other hostages tell him to sit down and shut up.
- Dirty Coward: The damned jerk makes a big plan to escape capture that he tells the heist team the moment they threaten to beat him up.
- Drama Queen: Big time. When Manila kneecaps him in Season 4, he acts as if he's mortally wounded, even though the bullet didn't hit any of his essential arteries at all.
- Hate Sink: To make a long story short, among all of the cast, throughout multiple seasons, he is one of the most loathsome individuals. Cheating on his wife, being a Dirty Coward, making idiotic attempts at being a Defiant Captive that he bullies other people into helping him with (and then gets them killed or nearly so), elitist, being a Mean Boss... And in Season 4 he offers Amanda pills to help her anxiety, but later flashbacks show he molested her while she was under its effects.
- Hypocrite: When Arturo catches Mónica and Denver having sex in Episode 11 of Season 1, he accuses the latter of raping his then-lover. It doesn't stop him from actually raping Amanda later in Season 4.
- In-Series Nickname: Berlin coins "Arturito" (translated to "Little Artie" in English) as a derogatory term for him, which several other robbers also use whenever they refer to him. Considering Arturo tries to be as macho as possible, it's as denigrating to him as you expect it to be.
- It's All About Me: Even if he claims to care about Mónica and their child, ultimately he's only trying to make everything about himself because he's an Entitled Bastard.
- Jerkass Has a Point:
- Can't really blame the guy for not counting on the heist team to keep their word to not harm the hostages. Helsinki concedes to Arturo's distrust.
- He's right about the bomb strapped to him in Season 2 being a fake. Granted, his way of responding to this realization (wanting to strip it off and make another escape plan) would have fucked everyone over, himself included, so Alison's right in forcing him to sit down and shut up.
- Even if he's playing himself up to an extreme during his talk at the TED Expy in the intro of Season 3's premiere, he has a point in saying the heist team are far from being heroes, and put him and the other hostages in the Mint through many terrible things. Most notably, he has a right to hate Denver for basically kidnapping his child.
- Jerk with a Heart of Jerk: Since the beginning, every time the viewers may think he has some standards and decency deep down, he will say or do something that contradicts this in the same scene. In the first season, he makes a couple moving speechs to his wife Laura, but ruins it at the end of both times by calling her Monica, the name of his lover; Berlin gets amused by this and comments it to him after the first time.
- Jizzed in My Pants: Arturo gets a little... overexcited while groping Mónica after her apparent return from the dead.
- Kavorka Man: There's nothing attractive about his appearance or personality, but at the start of the show, he has two women in love with him. He ends up losing both of them.
- Knee Capping: Manila shoots him in the knee in Season 4 as punishment for yet another stupid act of defiance.
- Laser-Guided Karma:
- After the Mint heist, his relationships with both his wife Laura and Monica completely fall apart, and he effectively loses his son with Monica, while his three other sons refuse to speak to him as he cheated on their mother.
- During the Bank heist, he ends up getting shot by Monica when he tries to let her guard down to kill her, only to fall for a very obvious trap after dismissing Mario's warnings.
- Leeroy Jenkins: He never really has a plan when he tries to sabotage the thieves', he just tosses crazy ideas at the wall as soon as he thinks of them in the hopes something sticks. And he purposely gets taken hostage in Season 3 to try to be a hero.
- Manipulative Bastard: He constantly tries to make other hostages do what he wants by appealing to their desire to survive or the chance that they could be the heroes of the day.
- Mean Boss: During his time as the Mint's director, he continuously bullies his employees around by threatening to fire them. It says a whole lot about him when Torres, a former employee of his and one of the hostages during the Mint heist, tells Nairobi (one of the robbers) in Episode 13 of Season 1 that she's the best boss he's ever worked for.
- Miles Gloriosus: By the time of Season 3, he managed to build himself a pretty profitable reputation by spreading Blatant Lies about his "heroism" during the Mint heist, the premiere episode's opening scene involving him entering as a guest speaker in a Spanish TED Expy event.
- Rabble Rouser: When he becomes a hostage again in Season 3, all of his attempted manipulations to have the other hostages fight the heist team come across as this.
- Sleeping with the Boss: At the beginning of the series, Arturo has had an affair relationship with Mónica for several years, with Tokyo narrating that Mónica had made him feel young again ever since his marriage to his wife Laura 14 years ago. By the end of the second season, he ends up losing both Laura and Mónica, the former once she discovered she had been cheating on him for a good while and thus filed a divorce from him, and the latter when she defects to the heist team after finding Denver to be a better boyfriend for her.
- Small Name, Big Ego: He definitely overestimates himself and has a narcissistic ego.
- Too Dumb to Live: His pathetic attempts at being a Defiant Captive usually end up biting him in the ass, such as getting shot in the first season, and getting near-fatally shot in the fifth. It's a miracle he's still alive.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Originally, he was just a cowardly, selfish jerk. In Season 4, he ends up becoming a rapist.
- Uncertain Doom: Despite having a pulse in Episode 3 of Season 5, it's not made clear if Arturo ultimately survived the shootout with Mónica.
- Villain with Good Publicity: In the intro of Season 3's first episode, he's shown to have become a well-known public figure and motivational speaker after the first heist, with legions of fans who believe him to be a courageous hero, and comprise the only notable group of civilians who oppose the heist team. While he makes some good points during his speech in that moment (e.g. the heist crew shouldn't be considered heroes at all), Arturo himself is far from a hero, and the following events after he deliberately gets himself inside the Bank reveal him to be even more despicable than he was in the series' beginning.
- Vomit Discretion Shot: In Episode 12 of Season 1, Arturo vomits at the sight of Mónica having sex with Denver, but the resulting puke isn't shown from the angles of the ensuing shots.
Mónica Gaztambide
See the "Stockholm" folder in the "Criminals" page.
Ariadna Cascales
Ariadna Cascales
Played by: Clara Alvarado
Voiced by: Erika Harlacher (English)
A Mint employee whom Berlin takes an interest in.
- Foil: To Monica, another female hostage who begins a relationship with one of the robbers. After Monica is scorned by the other women for siding with Denver and the others, Ariadna is the only one to talk to her in the bathroom, and they chat about their respective relationships. While Monica and Denver have a more genuine attraction, Ariadna is continually raped by Berlin and wants him dead.
- Gold Digger: Played for Drama. She hates how Berlin continuously takes advantage of her and has deluded himself into thinking they are in love, but resolves to marry him like he asks — because he's Secretly Dying and she can inherit all his money if she holds on that long.
Jacinto
Jacinto
- Chekhov's Gunman: He had little screentime until Episodes 11 and 12 of Season 1, Jacinto, between which he becomes the one who carries out Arturo's first escape plan, with notably successful results into the season's thirteenth and final episode.
Brighton College students/staff:
Alison Parker
Alison Parker
Played by: María Pedraza
Voiced by: Reba Buhr (English)
The daughter of the British ambassador to Spain. The day of her class' school trip to the Royal Mint was deliberately chosen by the Professor to ensure the heist is secured from major police attacks; indeed, her presence prevents Colonel Prieto from ordering a storm into the building as he may have wanted.
- All the Other Reindeer: She's bullied at school, and things get worse after the recording of the conversation where Raquel tells the Professor that the police is willing to get Alison free instead of eight of her colleagues is made public.
- Brainy Brunette: Brown-haired, and definitely not dumb.
- Girly Girl with a Tomboy Streak: She's the proper and feminine daughter of a diplomat who nevertheless knows her way around guns and hunting due to it being a hobby of her father. Rio and Nairobi are independently surprised when they learn this.
- The Ingenue: In contrast to the older and more cynical female robbers Nairobi and Tokyo, the young and pretty teenager Alison is naive enough to trust a Jerk Jock guy and insecure enough to let her classmates walk over her.
- Instant Humiliation: Just Add YouTube!: In this case, Instagram, when Pablo publishes a picture where Alison is half naked.
- Living MacGuffin: Her status as the daughter of the British ambassador makes her a high-value hostage. Deconstructed when Colonel Prieto orders Raquel to get her instead of other eight teen hostages the Professor was offering for the sake of politics, and the gang releases a recording of this conversation on the news — the shitstorm of bad PR is instant and brutal.
- Took a Level in Badass: During the heist, she starts being a bullied and frail high school student to a more confident and emotionally stronger girl able to make shut out Arturo the building director.
Pablo
Pablo
One of Alison's classmates at Brighton College's and the captain of its athletics team.- Jerk Jock: In the series' very first episode, he fakes interest in Alison so he can take a half-naked photo of her and publish it on social media, which happens just as Tokyo comes and interrupts the two (Tokyo even describes him as "a fucking asshole" in her first narration from the fifth episode). Downplayed in that he didn't necessarily attempt to do it out of his own will, but rather because he was forced by two female classmates, and he apologizes to Alison (with the aforementioned two girls immediately following him on it)note and stops being a jerk as the Mint heist progresses, until he escapes with a number of other hostages in Episode 12.
Bank of Spain Heist (Seasons 3, 4, and 5):
César Gandía
César Gandía
Played by: José Manuel Poga
The chief of security of the Bank of Spain, who escapes from being a hostage.
- Ascended Extra: Has a minor role in season 3, but ends up becoming the Big Bad in the second half of season 4, and returns as one of the antagonists in Season 5 allying with the Special Forces.
- Ax-Crazy: He's overly violent and unstable even before going on a murderous rampage in the bank and becoming disturbingly obsessed with killing Nairobi, which he succeeds in doing. He then becomes obsessed with killing Tokyo; that one kind of backfired on him.
- Bald of Evil: Bald and a despicable person.
- Big Bad: After escaping, he becomes the main obstacle to the robbers in Season 4.
- Evil Gloating: After he kills Nairobi, he just loves to keep rubbing it in.
- Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He has a wife named Marisa and a son named Juanito.
- For the Evulz: He murders Nairobi after seemingly letting her go solely for this reason.
- Hate Sink: He's made to be as mean, racist, and ruthless as possible, even if it wasn't necessary. Hero Antagonist or not, the writers certainly didn't want the viewers to like this guy.
- Hero Antagonist: If you heard the story of a chief of security doing everything to stop a gang of robbers, he would easily be considered the hero. He's still not a good person by his will, though.
- Hypocrite: He sees Nairobi as nothing but an insane violent woman before he kills her, when in reality it's the other way around and Nairobi is completely sane.
- Invincible Villain: He manages to survive and avoid the bullets despite having at least eight people shooting at his direction at the same time. Until Season 5.
- Ironic Name: In a pretty roundabout way. His surname, Gandía, is the name of a city in Spain, so it would fit perfectly with the Location Theme Naming of the robbers.
- Karmic Death: Episode 6 of season 5 confirmes he was indeed killed by Tokyo's suicide attack. It's safe to say no one is going to miss him at all after the misdeeds he's done and got away with, and becoming the victim of one he tortured and tried to assault.
- Knight of Cerebus: The most terrifying threat the gang has to the plan. Even when he's handcuffed, his terrifying aura can be felt.
- Last-Name Basis: Always referred to by his last name, while his first name is rarely mentioned.
- Mysterious Past: Before the heist, Berlin, Palermo, and the Professor assume he had a shady past as a killer before becoming the bank's Chief of security, but it's not elaborated on. During the heist proper the Professor discovers Gandía is an ex-Spanish Green Beret seemingly specialized in... "off the books" operations (black ops).
- Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: He considers killing the robbers a necessary act to protect the bank, but it's clear from his behavior that he takes pleasure in killing and inflicting pain on other people.
- One-Man Army: The guy manages to fight against multiple heist members all at once without suffering so much as a scratch. Could be justified because he's wearing heavy combat armor.
- Outside-Genre Foe: His stealthy Slasher Film tactics wreck havoc amongst the robbers.
- Plot Armor: The reason why he's apparently able to avoid hundreds of bullets so many times during the gunfights. His armor expires midway through Season 5, though.
- Politically Incorrect Villain: He often makes racist remarks, especially towards Nairobi.
- Relative Button: He taunts Denver by bringing up his father's death at the hands of the police. He gets a punch to the face for his troubles.
- Revenge Before Reason: When Palermo offers him a chance to leave the Bank unscathed, he ditches the opportunity to shoot Nairobi for her earlier remarks. It leads to his death in Season 5.
- Token Evil Teammate: For the Bank of Spain's staff.
- Would Hit a Girl: He kills Nairobi by shooting her in the head.
Mario Urbaneja
Mario Urbaneja
Played by: Pep Munné
The Governor of the Bank of Spain.
- Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: Or hostage. While Arturo was a Miles Gloriosus and attempted to make others do the dirty work for him, Mario is A Father to His Men and a truer Defiant Captive than Arturo could ever hope to be. It's even more clear when Mario and Arturo are in the same room.
- Defiant to the End: Is prepared to die rather than hand over Europe's darkest secrets to them. Too bad the Professor had an alternate plan.
- Good Counterpart: To Arturo from the first heist.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Tears into Arturo when the latter attempts to stage an uprising on the armed and dangerous robbers.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Much more reasonable than most of the police especially.
- Smarter Than You Look: He's way more sensible than most authority figures, easily pokes holes into Tokyo and Nairobi's cover stories as Army members, and could have busted them hadn't Gandia been too trigger-happy.
- Token Good Teammate: From the top echelon of the Bank of Spain. The Professor recognizes this as well, as he orders the team to be more lenient to him to be in his good books.
Amanda
Amanda
Played by: Olalla Hernández
The secretary to the Governor of the Bank of Spain.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Busts Arturo by exposing him as a rapist in front of the hostages and the heist members.
- Break the Cutie: Arturo takes advantage of her when she was suffering from anxiety due to the heist.
- Nice Girl: She attempts to cover Miguel when he was being threatened by Denver.
Miguel Fernández Talanilla
Miguel Fernández Talanilla
Played By: Carlos Suárez
An intern at the Bank of Spain.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Attacks Arturo and captures him once Arturo is revealed as a rapist.
- Dare to Be Badass: Denver play-acts threatening him so as to invoke this trope unto him. By the end of Season 4, he seems to have succeeded.
- Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure: Apparently fails to get a reference to The Terminator despite other hostages attempting to give him a hint.
- Took a Level in Badass: Goes from a scared hostage to a fighter as he stops Arturo from coercing Amanda.
