Exclusive Interview, Sergi Belbel: The Architect of Emotion and Destiny - Confessions of a Playwright
Sergi Belbel ©Felipe Mena The Netflix series, If I Hadn't Met You What if our lives were just possibilities among infinite destinies? What if I hadn't met you?
Sergi Belbel, a visionary playwright and producer, is the creator of the Netflix series *If I Hadn't Met You* ©Felipe Mena
What if our lives were merely possibilities among infinite destinies? If I hadn't met you, the Spanish Netflix series by Sergi Belbel. The exclusive interview with the playwright who thinks in action.
Behind every film or series, there is always a person who dreams, doubts, writes, and then patiently shapes their world. Knowing the inner workings of a production means understanding the gestation of a work: its difficulties, its detours, the precise point at which the idea becomes an image. And we love meeting these unsung heroes who transform emotions into dramatic material. Sergi Belbel, a Catalan playwright, screenwriter, and producer, has always explored the boundaries between theater, emotion, and parallel universes. With the series “ If I Hadn't Met You”(Si no t'hagués conegut) — available on Netflix — he delivers a moving story about loss, chance and the intimate turning points in our lives.
A rare creator, for whom each work is an existential adventure and an act of faith in human emotion, he confides in Etuu about the work, the doubts and the birth of an idea before it reaches the screen.
“Theatre and fiction are religions without God. We believe for a moment, just so we don’t forget that we need to believe.” ( Sergi Belbel )
"Grief has always been a starting point in my work."
ETUU - What was the starting point for this work?
Sergi Belbel: This stems from themes that have long permeated my work: parallel universes, quantum physics, and the question of grief. I had already explored these subjects in my play, “Planck Time (2000).” It follows a dying father and his daughter, Maria, who tries to save him by imagining an alternate universe. The series extends this idea: grief remains central, but death is no longer the end—it's the beginning.
"For me, theatre has replaced religion."
ETUU - The theme of destiny and loss recurs frequently in your work. What did you want to express?
Sergi Belbel: It's an existential question that has preoccupied me since the beginning. I come from a Catholic family, but I never found my place in religion. Theater has taken on this spiritual function: it connects, it transmits, it consoles. When a spectator tells me, "Your play changed my life," it's a blessing for me. Art then becomes a kind of secular religion.
And isn't that the most beautiful thing you can say to an author?Exactly. If a work manages to change someone's perspective, even for just a moment, then it has found its purpose.
"Dreams are our personal parallel universe."
ETUU - The series alternates between realism and dreamlike imagery, almost like two worlds. Was this intentional?
Sergi Belbel: Yes, very much so. I wanted each visual universe to have its own light, its own breath. Gaudí influenced this approach: his curved, colorful, almost living architecture. My cinematic references range from Hitchcock to David Lynch—structure and the unconscious. Dreams are the realm where everything becomes possible.
"We were searching for the truth through silence."
ETUU - The actors' performances convey a great sense of restraint. How did you direct this contained emotion?
Sergi Belbel: They all come from a theater background; this allowed for a restrained approach. Few gestures, many silences. The heart of the series is the chemistry between Eduard and Elisa. Without it, nothing existed. We didn't have the resources for a big production—and that was fortunate. Fewer effects, more truth. It's not a science fiction series: it's a series of emotions.
"This is the rhythm of pain, not distraction."
ETUU - In an age of speed, you choose slowness. A form of resistance?
Sergi Belbel:The theatre taught me that time doesn't stop. On stage, we experience time; we don't stage it. Some find the series slow; I see in it the natural rhythm of grief. Pain doesn't run, it breathes.
"Writing is a temporary solitude."
ETUU - Is writing a solitary act for you?
Sergi Belbel: Yes, and thankfully so. We write alone, but never for ourselves. It's a solitude offered up, turned towards others. I write so that my words become tangible: carried by voices, bodies, a stage. During the pandemic, I wrote my first novel—which won a prize!—and today I'm on my third. The novel is pure solitude; the theater, a solitude in motion.
"Theatre is alive, cinema freezes."
ETUU - How does your experience in theatre bring to your other disciplines?
Sergi Belbel: The theatre breathes; it evolves every night. On screen, everything freezes. The tension is the same, but the nature changes. Theatre demands a vocal and physical strength that the camera does not require. It is an art of endurance and a living soul.
"What is left unsaid is often the true language."
ETUU - Your dialogues leave a lot of space for silence. How do you work on this balance?
Sergi Belbel:Silence is written! Beckett showed us that. What is left unsaid makes the spectator work. I like ellipses, the spaces between two acts. And then, words often lie: when a character is sad, let them say, “I am going for a walk.” It is the gesture that conveys the emotion.
"I always choose the theatre."
ETUU - What are your current projects?
Sergi Belbel: I've just started a novel about old age and the manipulation of vulnerabilities. And I'm preparing two plays. One is called The White Hole — a musical piece inspired by an astrophysical concept by Carlo Rovelli. The black hole symbolized the death of the father; the white hole, that of the mother — the light regained.
"My inspirations have never changed: life, love, death."
ETUU - What are your sources of inspiration?
Sergi Belbel: The same as always: life, love, death. These are the essential mysteries. Love and death share this force: a tension between solitude and the need for the other.
"I owe everything to Beckett, Shakespeare, and a premonitory dream."
ETUU - How did you become a playwright? Any anecdotes?
Sergi Belbel: At 22, I submitted my first play to a competition under a pseudonym. I dreamt of winning, on a plane, newspaper in hand. A few days later, victory! On the flight home, the flight attendant handed me the newspaper… and my name was on the front page. Exactly like in the dream. That's how it all began.
To watch the series on Netflix, click HERE.
