José María Caro Joins Secuoya Studios as CCO — What Spain's Content Shuffle Means for Global Streamers
TL;DR: José María Caro, HBO Max Spain's chief of originals, landed at independent studio Secuoya Studios within 24 hours of his exit being announced on May 12, 2026. The fast pivot signals aggressive expansion in Spain's production sector — and raises real questions about where European streaming originals are heading next.
The 24-hour executive pivot nobody saw coming (but everyone expected)
Ten years inside the Warner Bros. Discovery ecosystem. Less than a day after his departure went public.
That speed tells you something. When a mid-level European executive bounces between streaming giants, it's background noise. When a content chief lands at an independent studio within hours? That's calculated. That's someone with leverage.
José María Caro, who spent roughly a year as HBO Max Spain's head of scripted fiction — a role he took on in January 2025 after Alberto Carullo departed for Mediaset — is now Chief Content Officer at Secuoya Studios, the Madrid-based production company. The announcement came May 12, 2026. The fact that Deadline covered it immediately tells you Secuoya's ambitions aren't modest.
Here's what's actually interesting: this isn't a retreating executive taking a smaller job. This is someone with a decade of institutional knowledge from two of the world's largest streaming platforms (Amazon Studios Spain, then HBO Max) moving into a studio role that gives him creative control and international expansion responsibility. That's an upgrade, not a lateral move — which means either Secuoya made him an offer he couldn't refuse, or Caro saw something in their growth trajectory worth the risk.
What Caro's track record actually tells us about Secuoya's bet
Before HBO Max, Caro spent years at Amazon Studios Spain overseeing productions that mattered. Los Farad — a family crime drama with Succession-like dynamics — and Reina Roja, an adaptation of Juan Gómez-Jurado's bestselling thriller that became one of Amazon's stronger Spanish originals. Both showed his ability to shepherd IP-based projects and understand what international streaming buyers will greenlight.
The timing at Secuoya is worth noting. The studio lost CEO Brendan Fitzgerald last month. Two C-suite changes in quick succession usually signals either structural trouble or deliberate restructuring for something bigger. Secuoya's messaging leans hard into the second interpretation. Whether the content pipeline backs that up is the real story.
What Secuoya is actually buying here isn't just production experience. It's someone who knows how the machine works inside Netflix, Amazon, and HBO Max — who understands the price points for international co-productions, the greenlight criteria, the talent relationships. That institutional knowledge doesn't come cheap, and it doesn't transfer easily from the outside.
Raúl Berdonés, Secuoya's Executive Chairman, framed it this way: "José María Caro brings together an exceptional combination of creative vision, international experience, and deep expertise in content development and production. His arrival reinforces Secuoya Studios' commitment to a strong and distinctive strategy, consolidating our position as a studio focused on creating meaningful stories with a unique identity and the ability to connect with global audiences."
Translation: they're not chasing volume. They're chasing global hits.
Spain's content moment — and why you should care
Here's the thing nobody mentions enough: Spanish-language content has genuinely rewired what global audiences expect. Money Heist didn't just become a Netflix phenomenon. It rewrote the playbook. That success created enormous pressure on every Spanish studio and streamer to chase the next crossover property — and it created a talent arms race for executives who've actually done it.
Caro's public role at HBO Max Spain, though brief, landed him at the center of that race. His job was to develop scripted originals with global potential. He lasted roughly 15 months before the restructuring came down — which, in streaming terms, isn't unusual. But the speed of his reemergence at Secuoya suggests his work was noticed by someone with money and ambition.
For Indian audiences specifically — and this matters more than it sounds — Spanish-language content has carved out surprisingly loyal viewership on Netflix India. Money Heist was a phenomenon there. Elite built a solid following. Reina Roja, one of Caro's Amazon projects, found viewers well beyond Spain's borders. Movie OTT has tracked this shift closely: Spanish thriller-dramas and family crime stories are hitting Indian platforms with increasing frequency, and acquisition teams are paying attention.
The question now is whether Secuoya can produce the kind of global-crossover content that justifies bringing in someone with Caro's pedigree. That's not a certainty. It's an aspiration. The pipeline will tell us whether they can actually execute on it.
What we know about Caro's mandate at Secuoya
The official role: Chief Content Officer. The actual job breaks down into three parts:
- Lead creative development across new projects
- Define editorial vision for the studio's productions
- Oversee sales strategy and international market penetration
That last part is crucial. It's not just "green-light shows." It's actively selling them into the global market — which means Caro needs to understand where content gets licensed, what territories pay what, and how to structure deals that work for independent studios competing against Netflix and Amazon.
The organizational structure matters too. Caro's team at HBO Max will be replaced by Deniz Sasmaz Oflaz, who's taken on the interim VP role for Spain, Italy, and Turkey at HBO Max. That's a signal WBD is consolidating the region under one executive — which either means they're cutting costs or they're planning something bigger with those three markets bundled together. Hard to say which without more information.
One small detail that's easy to miss: Caro's departure from WBD came roughly six months into his expanded originals chief role. That's fast enough to suggest either a strategic shift at the corporate level (probable) or creative differences (possible but less likely to be announced publicly). The industry usually doesn't comment on the real reasons these things happen — they just move on.
Where Secuoya's next projects will actually land (and how to track them)
Secuoya hasn't announced specific titles attached to Caro's hire, which could mean nothing is ready to announce — or they're saving it for a market moment. MIPCOM in October 2026 is the obvious play. That's where independent European studios pitch international co-productions.
For Indian subscribers interested in catching Secuoya's upcoming slate, the tracking gets complicated. The studio doesn't have direct distribution rights. Content flows through platform deals — Netflix India, Prime Video India, occasionally SonyLIV or JioCinema. Movie OTT's where-to-watch database tracks real-time availability across all these platforms, which is worth bookmarking now if you want to catch Caro's projects as they roll out across regions.
Here's what I keep thinking about: the Spanish content sector has had a remarkable run, but it's also hit a saturation point. Everyone's chasing the next Money Heist. Most will fail. The studios that survive are the ones that understand global audiences — not just Spanish audiences. Caro's appointment suggests Secuoya knows that. Whether they can execute on it is a different question.
The broader implications for European streaming
This move doesn't exist in isolation. It's part of a larger churn in European content leadership. Mediapro went through a similar aggressive expansion phase — hired international executives, positioned itself as a global independent, then hit complications. The comparison isn't perfect, but it's instructive.
What's changing now (and this matters if you care about where great content comes from) is that independent studios are no longer content-to-order shops. They're trying to be strategic players. That requires executives who understand platform dynamics, not just production logistics. Caro fits that profile.
For the Indian market specifically, this shift has practical implications. When Spanish studios get more ambitious about international reach — when they hire executives focused on global sales — Indian platforms get better access to their back-catalog and stronger negotiating power on new projects. That trickles down to what ends up on your screen.
Movie OTT will be tracking Secuoya's slate development as announcements come, and that's worth monitoring if you're interested in where European originals are heading. The next 18 months will tell us whether Caro's hire was a smart investment or a signaling play that didn't pay off.
What happens next
The immediate question: what projects does Caro attach himself to first? Secuoya's been quiet on specifics, which is either strategic timing or a sign they're still building the slate.
The CEO situation is also unresolved. Whether Caro's role carries some of that strategic weight in the interim — or whether a new CEO announcement is imminent — remains unclear. Hard to say if both searches are running simultaneously or if the board is comfortable letting Berdonés hold the chair while the content side stabilizes.
Watch Secuoya's presence at MIPCOM Cannes in October as a potential showcase. That's where independent European studios make their international co-production pitches. When (or if) Caro's projects get announced, that's when we'll actually know whether this was a smart hire or just expensive positioning.
