Adapting Isabel Allende’s ‘The House of the Spirits’ for TV was ‘magical realism’

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“Let me show you a picture of my grandmother,” Isabel Allende says.

She briefly steps away from her office to her home in Marin County, just outside San Francisco, then returns. Her bright red blazer and patterned scarf stand out against the white walls. She shows a vintage photograph in a silver frame – it’s her maternal grandmother, Isabel Barros Moreira, a clairvoyant, with a calm expression, dark hair, and dark eyes.

Isabel Allende says the actors in the new Prime Video series based on her famous novel, “The House of the Spirits,” could easily be mistaken for her family – particularly her grandmother, who inspired one of the characters. Allende’s 1982 debut novel draws heavily on her own family history, featuring characters modeled after her grandparents and mother. The story, known for its magical realism, follows three generations of women from the del Valle Trueba family against the backdrop of a changing, conservative South American nation, a country inspired by Allende’s native Chile.

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After watching all eight episodes – though she’s an executive producer, she let the show’s creators handle the adaptation – one of the author’s first reactions was how perfectly the actors embodied the characters she’d envisioned. This was a stark contrast to the 1993 film, which starred Meryl Streep and Jeremy Irons as characters inspired by her grandparents. She’s noted before that the movie reflected the tastes of its time, when audiences weren’t as accustomed to watching subtitled films.

This new series, “House of the Spirits,” is the first time the story has been adapted for Spanish-language screens, and it’s also the first time it’s been made for television. The show is led by three Chilean creators: Francisca Alegría, Fernanda Urrejola, and Andrés Wood. Alegría and Urrejola have worked together on several projects before, and they’ve always wanted to bring something by this author to life.

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Fernanda Urrejola is a co-showrunner and portrays adult Blanca in the series. Francisca Alegría serves as a co-showrunner and director, and Andrés Wood is also a co-showrunner and director on “The House of the Spirits.” (Photo by Diego Araya / Prime Video)

Urrejola explains that the project had elements of magical realism, as they were initially considering adaptations of Isabel Allende’s books, though ‘The House of the Spirits’ wasn’t something they anticipated working on.

The project couldn’t move forward initially because FilmNation already owned the rights. However, in June 2020, FilmNation requested that Alegría and Urrejola develop the show. They then began creating a detailed outline, including the script for the first episode, the season’s overall story arc, and plans to film everything in Chile.

Honestly, when I watched it, the scenery just blew me away. It really captured the heart of the country – from the huge deserts and lush forests to the farms and those incredible snow-capped mountains. It felt so genuine, so real. As Allende put it at the announcement event in Santiago, it showed her what the country always should have looked like.

Alegría and Urrejola started working on the project, and Wood later joined as a co-showrunner and director. Urrejola also stars in the show as the older version of Blanca Trueba. Wood first encountered Isabel Allende’s “The House of the Spirits” as a teenager in 1983, while living under the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet – eight years after Allende had to leave Chile. At the time, the book was banned, which made its political themes even more powerful.

After more than four decades, Wood now sees the book in a different light, as pointed out by Alegría and Urrejola. He believes it’s a true classic, explaining that classic books remain relevant and continue to resonate with readers today, which he calls ‘magic.’

He explains the series is particularly relevant today because we’re facing a real crisis. People aren’t just talking about wanting to tear society down – they’re actively trying to do it, and we’re seeing terrible things happen as a result, right now.

This version of the story begins and ends with Alba, played as a young woman by Rocío Hernández, and focuses on her family history. Alba is the granddaughter of Clara del Valle, a psychic woman portrayed by Dolores Fonzi, and Esteban Trueba, a stern and unpredictable man played by Alfonso Herrera. The series starts with Alba arriving injured at her grandparents’ home, known as the House of the Spirits, where she tries to understand how she ended up in that condition.

According to Urrejola, the story begins with Alba, the granddaughter, because understanding her family’s past is key to her healing. It’s about remembering what happened before – learning from past mistakes and understanding the reasons behind events. Everything has a cause, and we can learn from it.

Throughout this story, and in life generally, memory helps us heal and grow. In fact, the author, Isabel Allende, found writing this book to be a therapeutic experience. In 1981, while writing “The House of the Spirits,” Allende was living in exile in Caracas, Venezuela, after being ostracized by the Pinochet regime for helping refugees. She worked long hours as a school administrator while also navigating a difficult period in her personal life. Her marriage was falling apart, her children were leaving home, and she was approaching a significant birthday – all contributing to feelings of frustration, anger, and emptiness.

She says writing the book, during her evenings and weekends, gave her a reason to keep going, helped her stay focused, and was a way to process her memories – she was determined to include everything. Finishing it felt like she’d captured her past, her family, her homeland, and a sense of belonging. It was as if she’d created something solid and permanent, ensuring those things wouldn’t be forgotten. She realized, through the process, that she did have strong roots and lasting memories, all preserved within the pages of the book.

Isabel Allende’s novel, “The House of the Spirits,” covers fifty years of history, including a violent overthrow of a democratically elected socialist president by a military dictatorship – a clear reference to the real-life events surrounding Salvador Allende and Augusto Pinochet, though the figures remain unnamed in the book. Following this coup, both in the novel and in Chile’s actual history, many people – including ordinary citizens and those simply suspected of opposition – were kidnapped and subjected to torture. To authentically portray these experiences, the creators of the show based on the book spoke with female survivors who had endured torture during that time.

Alegría explains that even during incredibly difficult times, these women were able to find both humor and love. She notes they consistently discovered what Isabel Allende describes: that love exists even within tragedy, and pain often accompanies passion. The process of actively remembering – both personal memories, the country’s history, and the experiences of these women – was a crucial part of their work.

After more than four decades and thirty books, Isabel Allende’s writing consistently explores familiar themes – the bonds of family (whether by blood or choice), strong women, the dangers of unchecked power and violence, and above all, love—love for a place, a nation, fairness, and the connections between women. Allende believes these same elements from her novel, “The House of the Spirits,” still resonate today, and she concludes that love is ultimately what sustains us as human beings.

Adapting such a beloved and expansive story, filled with magical realism and spanning many years, was a significant challenge for the show’s creators. To stay focused, they kept returning to the heart of the narrative: the connections between characters, particularly the relationships between women, such as Clara and her sister-in-law, Férula (played by Fernanda Castillo). While Isabel Allende didn’t directly state Férula’s sexuality, their connection hinted at something more.

Alegría describes the connection between the two women in the story as deeply loving and supportive, even amidst the difficulties and violence of the world around them – symbolized by the man who comes between them. She emphasizes that by approaching each other with empathy, they are able to communicate, offer forgiveness, and recognize each other’s humanity, allowing their love to endure no matter what challenges they face.

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2026-04-29 13:32