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Outbyte PC Repair FREERepair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Outbyte Driver Updater FREEFix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →La Palma is fictional, not a retelling of a real disaster. It uses a real Canary Islands setting, the Cumbre Vieja volcanic ridge and the 2021 eruption as its backdrop; its family, characters and tsunami catastrophe are invented. The tsunami idea has a basis in scientific modeling, but it describes a hypothetical scenario—not a historical event or an imminent prediction.
What is real in La Palma?
The island and volcanic ridge
La Palma is a real island in Spain’s Canary Islands, and Cumbre Vieja is a real volcanic ridge. Netflix Tudum identifies both as the setting for the series; the Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program documents the ridge’s eruption history. The Smithsonian dates Cumbre Vieja, the island’s younger southern volcanic center, to about 125,000 years ago—not the island as a whole. Netflix Tudum · Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program
The 2021 eruption
A real eruption began on 19 September 2021. The Smithsonian’s February 2022 bulletin describes lava flows, ash, earthquakes, evacuations and property damage. It reports 3,063 buildings affected and 2,896 destroyed; those are distinct categories, not interchangeable totals. The bulletin documents no tsunami disaster like the one in the series. Smithsonian Global Volcanism Program, February 2022
What is fictional?
The series follows a Norwegian family and fictional researchers caught in an impending volcanic disaster. The people, their experiences and the show’s chain of catastrophic events are scripted fiction, not accounts of real victims or a real tsunami. Netflix describes La Palma as a fictional limited series and says it is not based on a book. Netflix Tudum · Netflix Media Center
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Is the tsunami scenario based on real science?
It draws on a genuine, debated modeling scenario. In a 2001 paper, Steven N. Ward and Simon Day modeled a hypothetical west-flank collapse at Cumbre Vieja. Their abstract calculated that a 150 km³ slide could produce 3–8 m waves, while a 500 km³ slide moving at 100 m/s could produce 10–25 m waves on American coasts. Those figures are conditional model outputs tied to the paper’s assumed slide sizes and speed. They are not observed wave heights, a forecast, or evidence that such a collapse is about to happen. Ward and Day, Geophysical Research Letters, 2001
Later work challenged key assumptions behind the extreme transatlantic version of the scenario, including a single, massive, rapidly moving collapse. The U.S. Geological Survey’s 2021 explainer discusses evidence and models pointing instead to piecemeal collapse and smaller potential volumes. It reports that later simulations put maximum wave height along the Americas’ east coast at about 1–2 m under a modeled worst-case collapse, and notes that no characteristic tsunami deposit has been identified on those coasts. That is a different model framing from Ward and Day’s 2001 calculations, so the numbers should not be treated as directly comparable. The USGS says the extreme “mega-tsunami” hypothesis does not hold up to rigorous examination, while noting that local volcanic tsunamis are real hazards. U.S. Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, October 2021
Rank #2
![De Palma (2015) [ NON-USA FORMAT, Blu-Ray, Reg.B Import - France ]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51uM-C5cy2S._SL160_.jpg)
- De Palma (2015)
- De Palma (2015)
A 2020 peer-reviewed study likewise treats a Cumbre Vieja collapse as hypothetical and describes uncertainty in hazard estimates, return periods and model assumptions. A physical process being possible does not establish the likelihood or timing of a particular giant collapse. The available sources do not establish a probability or schedule for one. Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, 2020
How the show compares with the record
| Element | What the evidence says |
|---|---|
| La Palma | A real Canary Island; it is the series’ setting. |
| Cumbre Vieja | A real volcanic ridge with a documented eruption history. |
| 2021 eruption | Real: lava, ash, earthquakes, evacuations and building damage are documented. No series-style tsunami is reported. |
| Family and researchers | Fictional characters in a scripted disaster story. |
| Mega-tsunami | A fictional catastrophe drawing on a hypothetical scientific model whose extreme assumptions have been challenged; it is not a recorded event or imminent forecast. |
Netflix format and availability
Netflix’s U.S. title page lists La Palma as a 2024 limited series with four episodes. Catalogs and streaming rights vary by region and can change, so check the Netflix page for your location. Netflix U.S. title page
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Rank #4
Rank #3
![De Palma (2015) (Blu-Ray & DVD Combo) [ NON-USA FORMAT, Blu-Ray, Reg.B Import - France ]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41M2QLuT9zS._SL160_.jpg)
- De Palma (2015) (Blu-Ray & DVD Combo)
- De Palma (2015)
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