Creator Breakdown: Asked about the next Alatriste in a 2019 congress of Spanish language academies, Reverte said that he didn't discard coming back to the series, but also that there was no promise he would ("I don't know how long I will live", "I don't know if I will be lucid"), and that part of this was because his perception of the time period and Spanish history had changed since he was writing the series. In another interview he added that he was not sure if he could write the series with the same spirit now that he was in an older age.
Development Hell: The books became progressively more spaced out with the last one being released in 2011. At least they are largely standalone stories.
Write What You Know: Reverte often includes battlefield experiences from his time as a war correspondent into his war novels, and The Sun over Breda is not an exception.
Write Who You Know: Reverte loves using characters based on real life friends of his, with his Mexican editor Sealtiel Alatriste being the inspiration behind the title character's surname. The fourth book features two characters obviously based on his fellow writers José Saramago and Juan Eslava Galán, and this is only the beginning of the list.
TV series
Approval of God: While Reverte ultimately considered the series a lost chance, lamenting it was shoddily made, he spoke shockingly well of it anyways and praised many aspects that fans and critics were being ruthless with, like the story and actors. Theories that he was being contractually roped into promoting the series abound in plenty.
Creator Backlash: Due to the Troubled Production, Mediaset producer Paolo Vasile and most executives declared the series a failure even before its screening, and nobody in the audience really disagreed afterwards. It was even rumored that the word "Alatriste" became a Berserk Button for Vasile due to the lost chance, to the point he reportedly still goes ballistic every time it is uttered in his presence.
Dueling Works: With Águila Roja, which was bizarrely piggybacking on the popularity of the Alatriste books itself, but used the Spanish 17th century as a Purely Aesthetic Era and ramped up action, fantasy and comedy. Instead of using the source material to produce a mature and serious drama that contrasted with the self-admitted silliness of Águila Roja, they clumsily followed on its steps, earning themselves the ire of book fans, failing to gain new ones, and handing over victory to Águila Roja from the get go.
Remake Cameo: The Marchess of Hinojosa is played by Luis Zahera, who also appeared in the film playing a character named Pereira.
Troubled Production: The choice to shoot in Budapest in order to reduce costs was only the beginning of a very troubled production, which included Executive Meddling for the story to be made Lighter and Softer, realization problems every day, scripts that were changed behind people's backs, and a historical consultant who was never summoned to the set in the first place.
