'Between Lands' is back: season two premieres this Sunday on Atresplayer with more wind and drama

The Malaga Film Festival provided the perfect backdrop for the cast and crew of 'Between Lands' to dust off their finest glad rags and give us the lowdown on the new season. And no, don't go expecting a happy-ever-after with lavender fields and poppies. If one thing was crystal clear at the presentation, it's that 'Between Two Lands' (as we old-timers also know it, with that 'Two' wedged in) is going to put its characters through the wringer. Quite literally.

Malaga succumbs to the North Wind

The festival's red carpet in Malaga saw Megan Montaner and Rodolfo Sancho, the heavyweights of this drama, strut their stuff alongside the rest of the cast. They dropped a few pearls of wisdom about what's in store for us. And mark my words, it comes with a health warning: they made it clear that the countryside, which we so often romanticise, is a character in its own right, and a right tricky one at that. "The countryside is a really harsh place," Megan blurted out, with that look of hers that immediately puts you on your guard. Basically, The North Wind isn't exactly blowing in anyone's favour in this tale.

What really struck me from what they said is how they've managed to hold onto the essence of the first instalment while upping the ante. The series, which drops this very Sunday on Atresplayer, is set to hook viewers with its familiar blend of family secrets, star-crossed love, and the struggle not to be swallowed up by the land that birthed you. Because when it's all said and done, Between Lands is about that: people caught between what they want and what they must do, between love and resentment, between leaving or staying and rotting away.

What's in store for the new season?

If you were left wanting more after the first season's finale, brace yourselves. The actors dropped several hints in Malaga and, being one to notice these details, I've put together my own little list of what's coming:

• More narrative tension: Conflicts that seemed resolved are ripped open again with a vengeance. What looked like scorched earth goes up in flames once more.
• Characters pushed to the brink: We'll see our protagonists make decisions that border on the morally dubious. No one gets off scot-free.
• The landscape as executioner: The harshness of the rural setting is amplified. It's not just a pretty backdrop; it's the judge passing sentence on the characters.
• Love and hate in equal measure: The romantic relationships promise to be a battlefield. You know the drill: loving someone and not being able to be together, but with a whole lot more spite.

Rodolfo Sancho, who knows a thing or two about getting under the skin of complex characters, pointed out that in this batch of episodes Between Two Lands gets darker, grittier. And it makes perfect sense. When you play with fire in a barren wasteland, everyone ends up getting burned eventually. The good news is, we get to enjoy the fireworks from the comfort of our sofas.

So, there you have it. This Sunday, it's a date on Atresplayer. I've already got my dinner sorted and my phone on airplane mode so nothing and no one can interrupt me. Because shows like Between Lands, which smell of damp earth and tragedy, don't come along every day. Especially not with such a stellar cast.