'Berlin' actor Pedro Alonso: 'There's definitely a bit of him in me'

MADRID, Spain — Two years after the end of the Netflix hit "Money Heist," which won millions of fans around the world, one of its main characters, "Berlin," returns to the small screen later this month with a spin-off series.

Although the Machiavellian criminal mastermind quickly charmed viewers, he died early on in the Spanish-language five-season thriller but remained very present thanks to multiple flashbacks.

And now he'll be back December 29 with an eight-episode prequel called "Berlin" in which the namesake gentleman criminal recruits a band of talented misfits to rob one of Paris's top auction houses.

In "Money Heist," or "La Casa de Papel" in Spanish, Berlin took center stage as a mesmerizing if manipulative sociopath with savage and unpredictable turns, but also a touching and endearing side.

Such was the fascination with his character that the Netflix production team kept him present long after his death in what was a challenge for Pedro Alonso, the Spanish actor playing the part.

Alonso warned the producers that he did not know if he was "capable of sustaining a character only in the past," especially one "who based his strength on danger, on the unpredictable, the unexpected", the actor said in an interview.

"It's true that when you portray a character that works well, many people make this crazy switch in their head, so no matter what you say (off set), it's always Berlin who's talking!" he said. "But I can't do anything about that, and I don't want to anyway."

Related:  'Money Heist' spin-off 'Berlin' sets December 29 release

Now 52, Alonso says playing Berlin, a "perverse, shady and difficult character, really got inside of me."

"Is the Berlin brand strong? Of course it is," he says. And the eight episodes of the new prequel are only going to strengthen that.

"All the characters that I portray are partly me, which is to say that how I portray this character is in line with who I am," he said. "Of course I have a bit of Berlin in me, but I've also got part of another character in me who I played this year, a father who is not an Alpha male and is an alcoholic."

Alonso says he is not an actor who is bent on "playing a totally different character