The House of the Spirits (La Casa de Los Espíritus) Premiere: Interview with Nicole Wallace (‘Clara del Valle’) & Alfonso Herrera (‘Esteban Trueba’)

The House of The Spirits is a new 8-episode miniseries adaptation of Isabel Allende’s debut novel of the same name. The novel has previously been adapted for film, TV, and theater, but this new series is especially unique because this version is the first-ever entirely Spanish-speaking adaptation.

The series follows the lives of the Trueba family through multiple generations and how a tragic and untimely death in the family serves as the catalyst for multi-generational grief and trauma.

The first episode introduces us to Alba sharing the story of her grandmother, Clara del Valle (played by Nicole Wallace), through Clara’s diaries. We learn that Clara has a paranormal ability to be able to predict death and see sprits.

When a young Clara has a premonition that someone in the family will soon die. Tragically, her beloved older sister, Rosa, is murdered after accidentally being served poisonous tea that was intended for their father, a high-powered political figure.

The news of Rosa’s death sets her would-be beau, Esteban Trueba (played by Alfonso Herrera), onto a dark and misguided path as the series follows Clara and Esteban and the trajectory of their lives. Clara tries her best to use her clairvoyant power to help people, while Esteban unfortunately hurts many people along the way, becoming more and more of a villain.

In my interview with the actors, Nicole Wallace (Clara) and Alfonso Herrera (Esteban), they shared their thoughts on how Clara views her power and how each of these characters cope with their trauma of this tragic loss.

Nicole: “I think [Clara] learns to accept sometimes it’s a blessing. Sometimes it’s a curse. Sometimes she figures out things that can help someone or herself. Sometimes she goes through a lot of grief and loss because of those in pain and because of those visions. It’s a beautiful metaphor for life and accepting that even though you know something, there’s no control over it, so just because she knows someone is going to die doesn’t mean she can stop it. The only thing we can control is how we react. I think the moment she sees the body of her sister [Rosa], she knew it was going to happen but couldn’t understand why. That opens a window of understanding life in a full wave, and she’s so young it changes her whole perspective.”

Alfonso: “[For Esteban], it begins with a mother that crushes him emotionally and psychologically and the absence of his father. He puts all his hopes into Rosa and all of a sudden she’s gone so he converts himself into a rock and deposits his dreams and hopes into artificial things like land, money, and political power. He tries to be with Clara not because of love but because he wants to create an enterprise and to construct a family. Completely opposite to Clara, he sees life in a more grounded, objective point of view, and also he’s a symbol of Latin American politics and justice.”

Nicole: “Esteban and Clara go through the same trauma with Rosa’s death and need for control and closing yourself up and realizing you can’t control death and understanding that this life. Clara opens herself spiritually.”

The House of the Spirits is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video.