
The first part of the series (Seasons 1 and 2) deals with a heist... but not just any heist: the takeover of Spain's Royal Mint
at Madrid by a diverse group of criminals, led by an enigmatic man known as the Professor, with the goal of forcing the Mint's employees to illegally print 2.4 billion eurosnote in untraceable banknotes over the course of 10 days.
In the planned robbery, the group is to follow three rules:
- No Killing: The Professor makes it clear that, because of his intention to make the heist team appear to be Just Like Robin Hood, the robbers must not hurt anyone, because, if they kill even a single person, they will lose the battle of public opinion.
- No Names: Everyone (save for the Professor) is nicknamed after a city. This, supposedly, prevents attachments and avoids the potential problem of someone outing them.
- No Personal Relationships: This, technically, is supposed to prevent attachments and allow the group to go on their way without a problem once the robbery is done.
The day of the heist was deliberately set to coincide with the visit of a group of students from Brighton College to the Mint, among whom stands out Alison Parker, the daughter of the British Ambassador to Spain, and who is to play an (unwittingly) important role in the Professor's plan. The first phase of the plan goes swimmingly, but soon it becomes obvious that no plan survives contact with the enemy, and even the most obsessive Crazy-Prepared plans can be screwed up by human nature.
The second part of the series (Seasons 3 to 5) takes place three years after the Royal Mint heist and involves the Professor reuniting the heist team for a second heist on the Bank of Spain's central building after Europol finds one of their members among the scattered areas around the world that the robbers had settled during the interim. The goal of the heist is to try to negotiate with the police to avoid facing arrest, namely by forcing Europol to hand over the captured member and interrupt the international-scale work they've done so far, and re-processing and stealing the gold of the Bank's National Reserve to pressure the Spanish police. The conflict eventually escalates into a full-on war between the robbers and the police due to a new group of harsher police leaders being put in charge for the heist.
A tie-in event in Rainbow Six Siege ran during November 21-25, 2019, which featured a special hostage mode and cosmetic items based on the heist team's iconic outfit of a red jumpsuit and Salvador Dalí mask. In 2020, a South Korean remake was announced, which would also be produced by Netflix as Money Heist: Korea - Joint Economic Area; the first part of its first season was streamed worldwide on June 24, 2022. In 2021, shortly after the series ended, Netflix also announced a prequel series titled Berlin focusing on the character with the same name, which was released on December 29, 2023 on the streaming service.
