'The 33' Actor Antonio Banderas to Star as Emotional Detective in Starz's Adaptation of 'Havana Quartet'

Antonio Banderas will executive produce and star in "Havana Quartet," a drama series currently in development at Starz.

The news was announced by Starz CEO Chris Albrecht at the Television Critics Association's summer press tour, Deadline reported. The drama, which will be produced and distributed by Entertainment One Television globally, is expected to be filmed in Cuba.

"Havana Quartet" is based on Cuban novelist Leonardo Padura's four-book detective series, which consists of "Havana Blue," "Havana Gold," "Havana Red," and "Havana Black," Deadline listed.

The hour-long TV adaptation will be penned by Cuban playwright Eduardo Machado, who will also serve as the project's executive producer alongside Banderas, Nadcon Film's Peter Nadermann, Sienna Films' Jennifer Kawaja, and Julia Sereny, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

"Havana Quartet" will follow the story of Mario Conde (Banderas), a hard-drinking and romantic detective who aspires to be a writer but ended up settling for a job in the police force. Albrecht said that the series is set in the 1990s "when the communist dream was starting to fray around the edges but there still was a lot of charm," Deadline noted.

"Starz continues to see great opportunity in continued programming diversification with many communities and genres," Albrecht said, as quoted by The Hollywood Reporter. "Partnering with eOne to develop the drama series 'Havana Quartet' with international star Antonio Banderas will allow us to give viewers a premium show that highlights the decaying beauty of Cuba during its 'Special Period' -- a time and place which tourists rarely got to experience."

Pancho Mansfield, eOne's President of Global Scripted Programming, commended Padura's series of novels.

"'Havana Quartet' is a series that captures both the romance and the underbelly of a country that has struck our collective curiosity and imagination for decades, and it was important for us to create a show that is authentic to Padura's elegant, noir-tinged novels and to Cuba itself," Mansfield remarked, as reported by Deadline.

'The 33' Official Trailer Now Out

Banderas stars in Warner Bros' "The 33," a drama based on the real life story of the 33 Chilean miners who got buried underground in the Copiapo, Chile caves back in 2010.

The Patricia Riggen-directed film stars the Spanish actor as Mario Sepulveda, a miner who gets trapped in the cave-in a day before his retirement, a separate report from Deadline noted. The miners, who struggled to ration three days of emergency food while trying to provide optimism to each other, were all miraculously alive after the ordeal, Daily Mail reported.

"The 33" opens in theaters on Nov. 13. Watch the trailer below.