Production notes

On 17 July 2017, it was announced that Netflix had given the production a series order for a first season; it is the second Netflix original series in Spain after Cable Girls. The series is created by Carlos Montero and Darío Madrona, who are both credited as executive producers of the series; as Netflix announced the order, The Hollywood Reporter wrote that the series' team "boasts one of the most successful writing teams in Spain's current TV landscape". Montero and Madrona developed the series after being told that Netflix was looking for a teenage show and were asked to produce an idea. Montero came up with the basic premise and the pair worked on it before presenting it to Netflix a month later. At the time, Erik Barmack, Netflix's VP of original series, said that Elite would be "a very different kind of teen thriller that will cross borders and affect audiences globally". Still, the creators said that the series has a lot of Spanish themes and Spanish identity, to give it "a sense of place and time, that it is a series of this moment and of this country", and to prevent it from becoming a "series that could happen anywhere in the world [because if they try to make something] that can be understood everywhere, in the end, it is not understood anywhere". In September 2018, it was announced that the series would premiere on 5 October 2018. Producer Francisco Ramos spoke about some of the decisions in creating the show in an interview before it was released. He said that the choice to set the mystery drama in a high school was important because "it is the time of your life when things matter the most", allowing them to explore the pressures of fitting in as an elite alongside the other plot lines. On 17 October 2018, Netflix renewed the series for a second season. During this period, it was increasing production in Spain after having constructed new production facilities in Madrid. As Netflix renewed the show, it announced that there were still discussions on which characters would appear. The second season was released on 6 September 2019; it began production after the viewership for the first season was known, in January 2019, though it had been written before season 1 had been released. The internal structure of the show uses flash-forwards to advance the plot and the mystery, which Variety compared to that of Big Little Lies. When speaking of the innovation in the second season, co-creator Darío Madrona said that they "wanted to keep the fast-forward formula as a staple of the series, but at the same time be different". Madrona said: "In the first season, we were conscious that we were making a series for Netflix, and tried to put everything into it [...] For season 2, we thought that we had the opportunity to explore the characters and the new ones as well. But it was an instinctive decision." Variety wrote that the second season, therefore, may be similar to Stranger Things season 3 in the way it compares to its more plot-driven predecessor seasons and how it "drives deeper into [the characters'] interaction, in continued coming of age narratives which are deeply inflected by class and economics". The production values and costs were also raised for season 2 to allow the creators more freedom. The character Cayetana (Georgina Amorós), introduced in season 2, is said to tackle the topic of appearances being everything–a theme of the series–from a different angle. She is a social media influencer and, according to Amorós, "isn't at all what she seems". Social media is another theme examined in season 2, with Darío Madrona and actress Mina El Hammani commenting on how it gives a perception of someone being good if people like who they are on the Internet, which can be dangerous. On 29 August 2019, it was reported that the series was renewed for a third season, before the second season had aired. The third season's logo was stylized as "ELIT3". The third season premiered on 13 March 2020. On 20 January 2020, it was announced that the series had been renewed for a fourth and fifth season. On 22 May 2020, Netflix officially announced the show's renewal for the fourth season, which was already in development. The fifth season was confirmed on 25 February 2021, before the release of the fourth season. The fourth season premiered on 18 June 2021. On 28 October 2021, Netflix officially announced the renewal for the sixth season of the show. On 24 October 2022, it was announced that Netflix renewed the series for a seventh season, with Omar Ayuso returning. On 19 July 2023, the series was renewed for an eighth season, which was later confirmed by Netflix to be the final season of the show on October 18.

Variety writes that the show's characters all "border stereotypes" but "escape total buttonholing"; director Silvia Quer said she was attracted to the show because of the well-constructed characters. The production was involved in casting for the show. The initial main cast was confirmed before the series debut, featuring several actors from other Netflix series and films either created or distributed by Netflix España y Latinoamerica, including Itzan Escamilla of Cable Girls, Danna Paola of Lo más sencillo es complicarlo todo, and María Pedraza, Jaime Lorente, and Miguel Herrán of Money Heist. However, acting newcomer Omar Ayuso was also cast as a character (Omar Shanaa) bearing his own given name. For season two, another actress from a Netflix series, Georgina Amorós of the Catalan Welcome to the Family, was added to the cast. Announced shortly before its release, she was joined by Claudia Salas and Jorge López. Two new members of the cast for season 3, and their characters, were introduced in a short Netflix video shared by actress Ester Expósito, on 4 October 2019. They are also actors from other Netflix series: Leïti Sène of Welcome to the Family and Sergio Momo of The Neighbor. Paola has said in interviews that she almost lost the chance to audition for the show, as the message was sent over email but landed in her spam messages folder. However, she retrieved it and sent in a video audition; the sides for this involved an early scene where her character (Lu) is having a tense conversation with the character Nadia. In the scene, Paola says that she ad-libbed using the sarcastic term of endearment "darling" ("querida" in Spanish), which the creators liked and has since become a catchphrase on the series. On 28 January 2020, it was announced that the series would consist of a new main cast for the fourth season. On 19 May 2020, it was confirmed via Elite's Instagram account that Mina El Hammani, Danna Paola, Ester Expósito, Álvaro Rico, and Jorge López would not return for season 4. Sergio Momo and Leiti Sène, who appeared in a main role in season 3, also would not return for season 4. On 22 May 2020, Itzan Escamilla, Miguel Bernardeau, Arón Piper, Omar Ayuso, Claudia Salas and Georgina Amorós were confirmed to reprise their roles in season 4. On 19 July 2020, Carla Díaz, Manu Ríos, Martina Cariddi, Pol Granch, Diego Martín and Andrés Velencoso were announced to have joined the fourth season's new main cast. On 23 and 28 December 2020, Ester Expósito and Danna Paola have been reported to return for season 5. However, during an interview at El Hormiguero, Paola stated that she left the series to focus entirely on her music career and that there is no possibility for her to return as Lu. Expósito also confirmed that she would not be returning as well, but instead that she would briefly reprise her role in the short stories. On 25 February 2021, along with the fifth season's renewal, Argentine actress Valentina Zenere and Brazilian actor André Lamoglia were officially confirmed to have joined the cast, which was initially rumours of the fans. On 25 March 2021, French actor Adam Nourou announced, via his Instagram account, that he would be joining the main cast of the fifth season. During the shooting of season 5, it was confirmed that Itzan Escamilla, Omar Ayuso, Claudia Salas, Georgina Amorós, Carla Díaz, Martina Cariddi, Manu Rìos and Pol Granch would come back in season 5.. However, Miguel Bernardeau and Aron Piper announced in July 2021 that they would not return for season 5, making Escamilla and Ayuso the only original actors in the series since the first season. On 20 August 2021, it was confirmed that Isabela Garrido, who had previously starred in The Mess You Leave Behind, had joined season 5 on a recurring role. In December 2021, FormulaTV reported Carmen Arrufat to be an addition to 6th season's cast. In January 2022, Arrufat was confirmed to join the sixth season with Álex Pastrana, Alvaro de Juana, Ander Puig and Ana Bokesa. Guillermo Campra, Marc Bonnin and Ignacio Carrascal were promoted to series regulars. In October 2022, Maribel Verdú, Alejandro Albarracín, Iván Mendes, Gleb Abrosimov, Fernando Líndez and Mirela Balic were included in the cast for the seventh season, while Nadia Al Saidi, who recurred in the sixth season, was promoted to a series regular. In February 2023, Leonardo Sbaraglia was included in the cast for the seventh season. In March 2023, Anitta was cast in the seventh season. In July 2023, Ane Rot and Nuno Gallego were cast for the eighth season, while Mina El Hammani was confirmed to reprise her role. Mario Ermito and Alexandra Pino were also cast.

The series is filmed in the Madrid region, including parts filmed in San Lorenzo de El Escorial. The mountains to the north of the Spanish capital often feature in the background. The first two seasons were shot entirely in 4K. In a tweet shared by Expósito in October 2019, the actress revealed that the third season had already completed filming. The fourth season started filming on 3 August 2020 but suspended a day after. Filming resumed a week after when they reported that the test was fake. It was also revealed that the fifth season is being shot back-to-back with the fourth season. By 22 December 2020, filming for the season had already wrapped. Filming for the fifth season began in February 2021 and concluded on 15 June in the same year. Filming for the sixth season began in February 2022 and concluded on 3 June in the same year. Filming for the seventh season began in November 2022 and concluded on 23 March 2023. Filming for the eighth season began on 7 August 2023 and concluded on 20 December in the same year.

Lynn Fainchtein served as the music supervisor of the series. Ricardo Curto scored the series' soundtrack from season six onwards.

The first season of Elite was met with critical acclaim. On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the first season has a 100% approval rating, based on reviews from 14 critics, with an average rating of 8.40/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Elite is highly digestible, technically strong trash TV for anyone with a guilty pleasure palate." Other reviewers also refer to the show as a guilty pleasure. Natalie Winkelman from The Daily Beast gave the first season a positive review, saying that "with Euro-cool style and compelling characters, Elite is trashy, diverting fun". John Doyle from The Globe and Mail likewise complimented the first season in his review, adding that "Elite is no masterpiece but is one of those oddly satisfying, binge-worthy curiosities." Taylor Antrim of Vogue also said that is worth a binge-watch and "goes down like a cold glass of verdejo". Antrim wrote that the series is an example of Netflix "airing global TV shows that slavishly borrow television tropes", saying that "If it were a CW show I'd hardly give it a second look. But a Spanish prep school is seductive terra incognita" in the positive review.

Writing for Variety, Caroline Framke also comments on the series' use of tropes. She notes that being introduced to the show as a combination of many other teen dramas, she was concerned that taking on so many tropes would make it "an overstuffed Frankenstein of a show", but that she was quickly proven wrong when watching it. Framke compares many of the characters' individual plots to other high school series and films. Of these, she finds the "love triangle between Marina, Samuel, and his brother Nano [to be] one of the show's only duller features". She concludes by saying that "Even given a million other options on Netflix alone, this tantalizing and whipsmart entry to the teen show pantheon proves itself worthy of the spotlight." David Griffin of IGN also identifies the series in the same way. He gave the first season an 8.8/10, highlighting that it sets a "new standard for how a high school drama series should be done" and "may be the best high school drama on TV". In a similar take, Lena Finkel of Femestella looked at how the series was different to many of its counterparts by how it tackled contentious issues. Finkel lists explicitly examples, including that when Elite has sex scenes, they are often about the woman's pleasure; that a character who believes abortion is murder is still pro-choice; that when a male character is come onto by a drunk girl that he likes, he sends her home; that it explores social and class differences when young people come out; that the gay male sex scene is sensual as well as explicit; and that it features characters including a young man unashamedly nervous to lose his virginity and a straight, white, wealthy, woman who is HIV-positive. She writes that the series "absolutely lives up to the height", congratulating it both on including these features and for "a great job depicting each issue, no matter how complex". However, she does note that the trailers "made it seem like yet another cheesy, over-acted teen drama". Also looking at how the series addresses diverse issues and modern society, Grazia Middle East wrote about the representation of Nadia. Writer Olivia Adams says that the show explores some of the more everyday struggles of racial discrimination towards Muslims by having Nadia be forced to remove her headscarf in school, something that has been considered at some real schools in Europe. She also notes how the home life of the Muslim family is explored, not just the teenagers' interrelations, giving a fuller view. Genevieve van Voorhis of Bustle notes that the series can feel aesthetically more like a horror than a teen drama as it pairs "wide shots of the school [that] are almost Wes Anderson-like in their color coordination and perfect 90 degree angles" with eerie music. Kathryn VanArendonk of Vulture stated in a positive review of the series that though "Elite is not pushing new boundaries in television, it's not a self-serious reboot of an old property" and that "in spite of that—or more likely because of it!—its commitment to breakneck melodrama is undeniably enjoyable." Kemi Alemoru of Dazed recommends watching the show because it is "extra", relishing in showing the excessive world of the elite students with extravagant parties and the means to escalate small fights to high-expense drama, and also for its positive representation of topics. Kayla Kumari Upadhyaya from Thrillist recommended the first season in their review of the series by stating that "Elite might be the only show that could give Riverdale a run for its money when it comes to excessive slow-motion shots." Decider's Joel Keller also compares the show to Riverdale, saying that it is "trashy and scandalous, but no moreso than anything you might see coming from American producers" and the latest of the "dark high school dramas" that became popular; Keller recommends to stream it. On Rotten Tomatoes, the second season has an approval rating of 92% based on reviews from 12 reviews, with an average rating of 6.00/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Elite is back for another entertaining, edge-of-your-seat mystery that succeeds thanks to charismatic characters and a bloody plot that doesn't take itself too seriously." Framke also notes that Netflix in the United States automatically defaults to the show with an English dub, and suggests changing the audio back to its original European Spanish for the best experience. On Rotten Tomatoes, the third season has an approval rating of 100% based on reviews from 10 critics, with an average rating of 7.40/10. On Rotten Tomatoes, the fourth season has three critic reviews. The three reviews are all "Fresh". On Rotten Tomatoes, the fifth season has an overall rating of 80% based on reviews from 5 critics, with an average rating of 5.60/10. On Rotten Tomatoes, the sixth season has an overall rating of 0% based on reviews from 5 critics, with an average rating of 3.25/10. On Rotten Tomatoes, the seventh season has three critic reviews. Two out of the three reviews are "Fresh".

On 17 January 2019, Netflix announced that the series (the first season) had been streamed by over 20 million accounts within its first month of release. The series is the second most followed Spanish-language TV show on TV Time's top 50 most followed shows ever, ranking at number 25 globally. After Netflix posted an image of gay characters Omar and Ander to Instagram, it received homophobic comments. The streaming service responded to one with rainbow emojis.