“Caminantes” is a Spanish mystery series about a group of friends who disappear on the Camino de Santiago. Five young people walk the pilgrimage route, and when their trail goes cold in the Irati Forest near the French border, the police find their phones, backpacks and personal items buried in the mountains. The recordings on those devices become the only evidence of what happened to them.
The show, created by José A. Pérez Ledo, ran for one season of seven episodes on Orange TV. It premiered on July 10, 2020, and ended on the same day. It mixes sci-fi, fantasy and adventure elements into a story about missing persons and buried phones. The premise is simple: the friends recorded their own deaths. The execution leans on tension and atmosphere over spectacle.
The Five Friends
The core cast is small. Lucas Miramón plays Álex, Alexandra Pino plays Andrea, Songa Park plays Lis, Daniel Ibáñez plays Dani, and Carlos Suárez plays Iván. Each carries a distinct role in the group, though the series spends most of its runtime on their collective experience rather than individual character arcs.
The show builds its tension around the question of what the friends saw in their final hours. The recordings are the key evidence, and the series treats them as a puzzle box rather than a straightforward playback. This approach gives the series a claustrophobic feel, since the audience is trapped inside the phones themselves.
The Forest Setting
The Irati Forest serves as a second character in the series. The source material describes it as a dense, remote woodland close to the border with France. The forest is where the friends’ trail was lost, and where their belongings were found buried. It is also where the recordings begin.
The forest is not just a backdrop. It shapes the tone of the show, giving it a sense of isolation and danger. The series uses the forest to build dread, layering sound design and camera work to make the woods feel alive.
The Recording Device
The phones are the central mechanical element of the show. The friends record their experiences on the Camino, and those recordings are recovered two weeks after their disappearance. The police find the phones buried alongside the backpacks and other personal items.
The show does not explain how the phones were buried. That is left unspoken. What matters is that the recordings exist, and that they hold the answer to what happened to the friends.
The Missing Episode
The show follows the friends as they walk the Camino. They encounter strange events, and the recordings capture those events. The show uses the recordings to piece together what happened to the group, and the final episode resolves the mystery by revealing the truth behind their disappearance.
The resolution depends on the recordings. Without them, there would be no story. The show trusts the audience to sit with uncertainty until the final scene explains everything.
Comparing the Five Friends
| Character | Actor | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Álex | Lucas Miramón | Lead male |
| Andrea | Alexandra Pino | Female lead |
| Lis | Songa Park | Supporting female |
| Dani | Daniel Ibáñez | Supporting male |
| Iván | Carlos Suárez | Supporting male |
The table shows the full cast of the series. Each actor brings their own energy to the show, but the ensemble works best when the group stays together.
The Score
“Caminantes” holds a score of 7.1 out of 10. That number reflects a solid, atmospheric mystery with a strong premise that doesn’t fully pay off its own setup.
The show is at its best in the early episodes, where the mystery is still building and the forest feels genuinely threatening. The later episodes lean more heavily on explanation, which slows the momentum that the earlier installments built.
Key Facts
- Title: Caminantes
- Creator: José A. Pérez Ledo
- Network: Orange TV
- Season: 1, 7 episodes
- First aired: July 10, 2020
- Last aired: July 10, 2020
- Score: 7.1/10
Final Word
“Caminantes” is a well-made mystery with a strong premise and a talented cast. The show knows how to build tension, and it uses its setting to create a sense of dread that few shows manage. The recordings are a clever way to structure the narrative, and the series executes that structure competently.
The show’s weakness is in its resolution. The final episode explains the mystery, but it does not fully justify the setup. Some threads are left hanging, and the payoff feels slightly underwhelming after the build-up.
Despite that flaw, “Caminantes” remains a worthwhile watch for fans of the genre. It is a tight, well-paced series that knows when to hold back and when to reveal. The score of 7.1 out of 10 reflects that balance: a solid achievement with room to grow.
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