Is Netflix'sLa PalmaBased on a True Story? All About the Real-Life Island’s Active Volcano — and the Last Time It Erupted

Mar. 15, 2025

A scene from Netflix’s ‘La Palma’ (2024).Photo:Netflix © 2023

Netflix © 2023

La Palma,which rose to the streamer’s Top 10 list after its Dec. 12 premiere, follows a family on their annual Christmas vacation to the picturesque, and very real, La Palma island.

While they’re hanging out poolside, two geological researchers find evidence that an eruption from the island’svolcanois not only imminent but potentially catastrophic enough to trigger a mega-tsunami that could strike multiple continents.

Here’s everything to know about the real-life La Palma island and its still-active volcano.

La Palma is a real island

Puerto De Tazacorte on the island La Palma in the Canary Islands, Spain.Getty

Getty

The show’s breathtaking location is a real place viewers can visit. La Palma is one of the Canary Islands, a group of several Spanish islands situated off the coast of northwest Africa in the Atlantic Ocean.

According to the island’stourism website, La Palma is also nicknamed the “Isla Bonita,” which translates from Spanish into “beautiful island.” In addition to its volcanic landscape, La Palma is home to crystal-clear waters, a dense pine forest and tall mountain peaks known for their star-gazing potential.

The show’s “mega-tsunami” theory is real

A scene from Netflix’s ‘La Palma’ (2024).Netflix © 2023

InLa Palma, geology researchers Marie (Thea Sofie Loch Næss) and Haukur (Ólafur Darri Ólafsson) find a crack in a volcano that proves an eruption is a few hours away — and that it could collapse the volcano itself into the ocean, causing a mega-tsunami large enough to hit multiple continents.

According to theU.S. Geological Survey, the theory that collapsing volcanoes could generate massive ocean-wide waves known as “mega-tsunamis” isn’t new. In 2001,an academic paperwas published that suggested the possibility of the La Palma volcano collapsing and causing tsunami waves up to 80 feet high along the east coasts of North and South America.

The volcano on La Palma erupted recently

Volcano erupts over the town of El Paso on the island of La Palma in the Canary Islands, Spain.Getty

On Sept. 19, 2021, La Palma’s Cumbre Vieja volcano erupted. It was the first major volcanic eruption on the island in 50 years, perThe New York Times.

La Palma’s 2021 volcano eruption lasted 85 days

Volcano of Cumbre Vieja in the Canary Island of La Palma continues to erupt lava after 15 days.Marcos del Mazo/LightRocket via Getty

Marcos del Mazo/LightRocket via Getty

La Palma’s 2021 eruption lasted 85 days and 8 hours — making it the longest eruption ever recorded in the island’s history, perNPR.

There were no fatalities, but 7,000 people were evacuated, and over 3,000 properties were destroyed, along with hundreds of acres of banana plantation farmland. TheBBCreported many of the residents who remained on the island were forced to stay inside their homes due to toxic gas emitted from the molten rock that leaked into the ocean.

The last tremors from the eruption were felt on Dec. 13, 2021. Canary Islands regional security chief Julio Perez officially declared that the eruption was over on Christmas Day and Spain’s Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, said the news was the “best Christmas gift."

The show was filmed on the island and one more scenic location

Ólafur Darri Ólafsson as Haukur and Thea Sofie Loch Næss as Marie Ekdal in Netflix’s ‘La Palma’ (2024).Netflix © 2023

The real La Palma Airport, which was shut down during the 2021 eruption due to severe ash accumulation, was also used in some scenes.

La Palma is still considered volcanically active

View of the Tajogaite volcano one year after the start of the eruption is still degassing on the island of La Palma in the Canary Islands, Spain.Getty

Many scientistsconsider Cumbre Vieja to be the most active volcanic ridge in the Canary Islands.

In addition to 2021, the volcano also erupted in 1949 and 1971.

source: people.com