‘Money Heist’ Season 5 Predictions

**This review will contain spoilers for seasons 1-4**

The widely-popular Netflix series, La Casa de Papel (or Money Heist for English-speaking viewers), was recently confirmed to be renewed for a fifth and final season. This show took my heart and soul during the beginning of the months of quarantine, much like millions of other viewers that carried the series to become a global sensation. The finale of season four took viewers through a thrilling, emotional rollercoaster. In the climax of the finale, ex-investigator and partner to our loving Professor, Raquel Murillo, was freed from custody and reunited with the gang inside the Bank of Spain. However, moments after this epic victory, the Professor turns around and finds himself held at gunpoint by Alicia Sierra, who went rogue after her involvement with the torture of Anibal Cortes (Codename ‘Rio’) was made public. A cliff-hanger of this magnitude left all viewers asking many questions. The purpose of this article is to offer some of my predictions for the fifth season of Money Heist. Several weeks ago, Netflix made a promotional post for the final season of the series, featuring the caption “THE HEIST COMES TO AN END.”

This post surely hyped up the millions of fans that are anxiously awaiting the final season’s release, but there is a grim tone to it. The photo depicts a Salvador Dali mask, a symbol that‘s as iconic to the series as the resistance members’ red jumpsuits. However, this mask is abandoned on the dark ground, dirty and cracked, implying that there will be serious hardships awaiting the gang in the series’ epic conclusion. Regardless of what happens, the end of this heist is surely not going to be an easy one. After all, no one escapes the Bank of Spain alive...

This will be a mixture of my own theories, as well as my take on some of the popular theories that have been circulating the web. Additionally, there are certain theories that address the same topic (such as our first major prediction) just in a variety of ways. I know it was stated already, but just in case you didn’t read the sub header...SPOILERS!

1. We Already Know Who Dies

Any time a member of the gang dies, it weighs heavy on the hearts of the viewers who have learned so much about the robbers over the four seasons thus far. Fans of the series lost Oslo, Moscow, and Berlin in the first heist at the Royal Mint of Spain. So far, Nairobi has been the only robber to die during the heist at the Bank of Spain. Quite possibly the biggest question of all is, who will make it out of the Bank of Spain alive? It’s easy to make random guesses, but many speculate that showrunner Alex Pina has dropped hints that indicate who will meet their demise by the end of this heist. There are several theories for this, so let’s unpack some of them.

Theory A: The House in Toledo

“Take fear by the hand and keep living. Because you have to live, gentlemen! You have to live until the end” - Nairobi

This theory primarily stems from S4E5, where we tragically saw Nairobi (Alba Flores) meet her demise at the hands of Gandia, Chief of Security for the Bank of Spain. Throughout the episode, there were several flashbacks to the house in Toledo, where the gang hid and trained for their first heist. Flashbacks are an integral part of Money Heist’s character development, and drives the audience’s understanding of its narrative. Alex Pina utilizes flashbacks heavily in his other productions, such as his new Ibiza-thriller, White Lines. Usually, Money Heist flashbacks involve all members of the gang, especially when it takes place during a meal or downtime. However, these flashbacks are special—the Professor prioritizes a sense of trust and community, but in this flashback, the only ones present were the Professor, Nairobi, Oslo, Helsinki, Berlin, Denver, and Moscow. Many speculate that this is Pina’s way of foreshadowing who will meet their demise by the end of the second heist. This flashback was presented immediately following Nairobi’s execution. At this point, Berlin, Oslo, Moscow, and now Nairobi are all dead. The only remaining members of the gang in this flashback are Denver, Helsinki, and the beloved Professor.

During this series of flashbacks, all characters are surprisingly at peace. Berlin is working on his art; Moscow and Denver are father-son bickering while preparing cookies for the Professor; Oslo and Helsinki are enjoying some daytime drinking; and Nairobi is peacefully soaking up the sun, twirling a flower in the grass. This comes off as odd when the characters are in the midst of preparing for the biggest heist of their lives. That’s why I think the house in Toledo (as shown in these flashbacks) represents a heaven of sorts. The gang’s journey started with the band of robbers meeting in the house in Toledo, and this theory is a beautiful way to show the heroes at peace when their journey ends. While this is a cool theory, it does present some bleak news for the future: it means that we’ll be seeing the deaths of some of Money Heist’s most unique personalities. If true, it will be a sad day when I hear Denver’s...interesting laugh for the last time.

“Ah-huh-huh-huh-huh-huh-huh-huh-huh-huh” - Denver

There is one hole to this theory that needs acknowledged. This flashback does include a piece of dialogue that plays out in real time: Moscow and Denver pleading to let the Professor recruit Moscow’s godchild to the gang as an undercover hostage. Nevertheless, the bright tones in the scenes make this theory a strong predictor for the fate of the characters in season five.

Theory B: Tokyo is the Only Survivor

“In the end, love is a good reason for everything to fall apart” - Tokyo

This theory can be traced to the very first scene of Money Heist. It’s supported by primarily one piece of evidence: Tokyo (Ursula is the show’s sole narrator. This implies that Tokyo is the only one to recount the gang’s memories over their two heists because she is the only one who survives the gang’s tumultuous journey. All memories—including those involving characters who are still alive by the end of season four, such as Rio and Denver—are told in past tense, and Tokyo narrates the show with an unbroken melancholy tone. This gives the impression that Tokyo went through something heavily traumatic, and every time she talks about a death, she is familiar to it.

The beginning of the series can be an interesting piece of foreshadowing for its conclusion. In the first scene, Tokyo offered a glimpse of her old life that she is trying to escape. Before she was recruited by the Professor, Tokyo had lost everyone close to her. This includes her partner in crime and life, who was killed in their last heist that went sideways; and her mother, who was collaborating with the police against Tokyo. Tokyo regularly referenced the gang as her family, the people she loved most in her life. Losing those people again, while heartbreaking, is something that Tokyo is familiar with.

The Professor also helps this theory. In every season of Money Heist, Tokyo refers to the Professor as her “guardian angel” multiple times. The Professor saved Tokyo from falling into her mother’s trap; freed Tokyo from police custody; and immediately came to Tokyo’s assistance when Rio was captured by Interpol after the heist at the Royal Mint. The Professor regularly represents a paternal figure to Tokyo, and it’s clear that he cares for her in a special way that’s different from the rest of the gang. If there was one robber that the Professor would choose to save over the rest, it would be Tokyo. I imagine that Tokyo’s guardian angel will save her one last time in season five, even if it results in the death of the Professor himself.

2. The Fate & Identity of Alicia Sierra

”Checkmate, you son of a bitch.” -Alicia Sierra

The climax of season four left fans in shock, with Inspector Alicia Sierra finally outsmarting the Professor and finding his hideout. The final camera shot found the inspector holding the Professor at gunpoint, relishing in the fact that she‘s finally victorious. However, an overwhelming majority of viewers believe that rather than turning the Professor into the police, Alicia Sierra will take different action. Let’s unpack some of those possibilities.

Theory A: Alicia Sierra Will Turn on the Police

While she finally caught the Professor red-handed, Alicia Sierra didn’t exactly do it...legally. By the finale of season four, Alicia was a fugitive after the National Police of Spain threw her under the bus for the intense torturing of Rio. However, Sierra treated her pursuit of the Professor as a personal vendetta, but not for the reasons many may think. Sierra has nothing to gain from siding with the police because the police are already looking for her. She’s a national fugitive, and leading the police to the Professor will also lead to the capture of Sierra herself. On the other hand, the Professor and his crew have a nearly-endless supply of money. The Professor has dumped hundreds of millions of euros into the streets of Spain; readily offered two farmers 20 million euros to hide Lisbon; and bought an entire army vehicle convoy off the black market for the gang’s entrance into the bank. In short, the Professor easily has the means to convert Sierra into a highly-valuable asset to the gang. Additionally, the credits of season four are accompanied by a performance of “Bella Ciao,” sung by the voice of Alicia Sierra. ”Bella Ciao” is a song about resistance, and has served as the gang’s theme song of sorts. Everyone in the show who has sang “Bella Ciao” is on the side of the robbers, so Sierra’s singing could be foreshadowing of her joining the Professor’s crew.

Alicia Sierra strongly mirrors Raquel Murillo is seasons one and two. Before she adopted the codename, ‘Lisbon’, Murillo became obsessed with the heist and catching the Professor. She was always one step behind the heist’s mastermind, until the slightest detail helped Murillo put the pieces together. Sierra did the same thing in the second heist of the series, but with a growing obsession. Sierra continued her investigation even after she was declared a fugitive. This could be because there was nothing left for her with the police, so she sought out the Professor.

A good question to ask is what role Sierra will be playing within the gang. Some speculate that Sierra will kill the Professor and take over as the gang’s ringleader. My prediction is that she will be the key to the robber’s escape. How and why she’d do this segways into the next major theory about the inspector’s true identity...

Theory B: Alicia Sierra is Berlin’s Wife, Tatiana

“Piano and jewels, my two specialties” - Tatiana

This theory is a bit of a stretch, but it’s gained massive traction on the internet, so I still feel like it needs addressed. Seasons three and four of Money Heist frequently contained flashbacks to when the Professor helped Berlin and Palermo plan the Bank of Spain heist. These flashbacks coincide with Berlin’s wife, Tatiana, a fellow robber who also knows the plan, much to the Professor’s dismay. During several flashbacks, the Professor frequently warned Berlin that love is what ruins a perfect plan such as the Bank of Spain heist. However, Berlin remained firm in his belief that Tatiana was harmless to the integrity of the plan. on the contrary, he frequently told the Professor that his new spouse was “the key” to the plan. This comment was easily dismissed since Berlin is not alive during the second heist, but Tatiana‘s role could still remain.

There hasn’t yet been a flashback that shows the fate of Tatiana after her and Berlin’s wedding, and she carries a distant resemblance to Sierra. This is where I think Tatiana being the key to the heist comes in: her sole role is to help the gang escape. Seasons three and four continuously reaffirm a grim principle: no one escapes the Bank of Spain alive. The Professor’s plans are successful because of their precision and impeccable attention to detail: he’s a nerdy criminal mastermind who has already pulled off what many would deem impossible—and yet still the Professor bleakly warns the gang that there is a small chance of them escaping the Bank of Spain alive. As of right now, the gang’s only ticket out is leveraging the gold, but the climax of season four showed that it might be too far for negotiations. This is why the gang’s only chance of escaping the bank is through the assistance of Sierra, who is more than familiar with police protocols and could present them an advantage for their grand escape.

There is always the chance that Tatiana does not make an appearance in season five. One aspect that I’ve bounced around is that the Professor’s memories of Berlin and Tatiana is a foil for the Professor coming to terms that he is in love with Raquel Murillo. The Professor warned Berlin of love serving as a distraction in a heist, yet he readily abandoned his hideout when Lisbon’s life was in danger. The ringleader took risks that directly contradicted the rules he imposed before the first heist (no names, no backstories, no relationships) The Professor found his true happiness in Raquel, and his brother’s distant words to him help the Professor understand that such a discovery is okay. Berlin deemed Tatiana the key to the heist, and it was Berlin’s plan. Maybe that means that under the Professor’s leadership, Lisbon will become the key to the heist and saving our beloved Sergio.

Diana Gomez will be reprising her role as Tatiana in Money Heist season five, but whether she will solely appear in flashbacks or make a grand return is a mystery right now.

3. The Loss of Leaders

While the Professor is the brains behind both of the crew’s heist, in each robbery one member is designated to be in charge of operations on the inside. In the first heist, this role belonged to Berlin. In the current heist inside the Bank of Spain, Palermo oversees the rest of the robbers. While we have already touched on possible character deaths, this section will talk about the fate of our heist’s leaders.

Theory A: Palermo Will Sacrifice Himself

“Pain is a loan shark. It leaves you with a debt that you can never pay back.” - Palermo

One of the new robbers recruited for the second heist is Palermo, a friend of Berlin and the Professor who helped design the heist for the Bank of Spain. Palermo and the Professor never quite got along, but they worked together to perfect the plan in memory of Berlin, who met his demise saving the rest of the gang at the Royal Minot of Spain. Both men are united by their love for Berlin, and Berlin’s influence on the pair is prevalent in the second heist‘s, both in how they prepare for and execute the robbery. During the first heist, Berlin lost the gang’s trust by breaking the Professor’s rules about the killing of hostages. However, Berlin eventually redeemed himself to his accomplices by sacrificing himself to buy them the precious seconds they needed to escape the Royal Mint.

Palermo alienates himself from the gang in a similar string of irresponsible decisions. After Nairobi is shot by a sniper, the robbers get into an argument about whether to operate on her inside the bank. This leads to Tokyo staging a coup d’etat and usurping Palermo‘s power as the heist’s internal leader. An ego-centric Palermo attempts to peacefully exit the bank, threatening to blow up the hostages if someone tries to stop him. This leads to Palermo getting chained up and treated as a hostage himself. To regain control, he frees the Governor’s Chief of Security, black-operative Gandia, to “give the heist the chaos it needs” for him to regain control. Gandia’s actions against the group lead to the death of Nairobi, and nearly Tokyo as well.

Regardless of his personal feelings towards him, the Professor recognizes Palermo as an essential part of the heist since he has the entire plan in his head. Berlin and the Professor knew the entire plan at the Royal Mint, and now the Professor and Palermo both know the entire plan for the Bank of Spain. See a pattern here? If history repeats itself, Palermo is going to sacrifice himself to save the plan and the rest of the robbers—specifically his love interest, Helsinki, who broke through Palermo’s facade and helped him reconcile with his pain of losing his true love, Berlin.

“My name is Martin Berrote, I was born in Buenos Aires, but I live in Palermo, Sicily—and I’m going to get you out of here alive, even if I have to give my own life.“ - Palermo

Theory B: The Professor’s Class Ends

“There can be no chaos if a plan is perfect” - The Professor

It’s the theory that no one wants to believe. Ahhhh, Professor—the nerdy, calculated, origami-folding criminal mastermind. Throughout the series, the Professor has never failed to impress viewers with just how far he is willing to go for his plans to work. However, an unprecedented challenge for the Professor is dealing with chaos. A flashback in season three follows Berlin and the Professor arguing over their perspectives on life. Berlin tells his little brother, Sergio, that he has to stop living his life ironing out all the problems and details; that there will be a time where he goes through something he cannot control (This was foreshadowing the faked execution of Lisbon at the end of the episode), a fate that leads to death or worse. The Professor argues that there can be no chaos in a plan that is perfect. This leads to a discussion about the pair’s father, who died while attempting to evade police after a bank robbery.

The Professor always spoke highly of his father. He opened up about his father to Tokyo before the first heist, when she asked him where the plan came from if it wasn‘t his own. The Professor‘s father is quite possibly his biggest role model, and his actions are meant to honor his late father. Berlin mentions that their father never made any mistakes, but still faced death during his final robbery. While the Professor argues that it was because of a minor mistake, Berlin refutes this claim, stating that any unforeseen chaos, rather than incompetence, could have caused their father’s demise.

Chaos is mentioned frequently during the Bank of Spain heist, both in present time and flashbacks. Yet through all, chaos is the one thing that the Professor refuses to accept. As much as it hurts to believe, I think that chaos will be the Professor’s downfall. He has calculated every possible risk in both heists, yet the one risk he has never considered? An accident; a small, unforeseen circumstance that leads him the Professor to a demise similar to his father’s. Though lackluster, this fate for the Professor could be a homage to his one major flaw: Refusing to accept chaos and chance as a part of life, rather than a probability to maneuver around. This could also be why Tokyo refers to him as her guardian angel. The Professor always watched out for Tokyo and the other robbers through unforeseen circumstances, without realizing that he’s just as vulnerable to those unprecedented hardships. The Professor’s death will be one that is simple, yet powerful, a homage to his development (or lack thereof, more like stubbornness) that has been illustrated through the entire series.

“Because someday, something will go wrong. It could cost you your life or something worse. And on that day what you can’t be thinking is that you are to be blamed for something you couldn’t control. That’s life. Enjoy it, until the party is over.” - Berlin

Those are my main theories for the upcoming season of Money Heist. Filming started in August 2020, but it’s expected that the final season will hit Netflix in early 2021. If there are any other developments, I’ll release a follow-up post detailing more theories and or any developments to our current ones.

What are your thoughts on these theories? Who do you think will make it out of the bank alive? Will the Professor, the mastermind who has the solutions to every possible problem, finally meet his demise? Is Tokyo the only robber who lives to tell the tale of the Dalis? Hopefully all these questions will be addressed when the final season of Money Heist hits Netflix in 2021. Be sure to leave your comments below, and stay tuned for more content to come soon.

-Cayl