Aahana Swrup
In Netflix’s ‘Billionaires’ Bunker,’ a strange plot is afoot in which an underground bunker goes from a safe haven to a place of nightmares. The Spanish show revolves around Max, the young and troublesome heir of the Valera family, one of the richest in the country. Like the other multi-millionaires, the Valeras have also bought tickets to the Kimera Underground Park, a doomsday luxury bunker service that is exclusive only to the most elite. This, of course, includes the Falcons, a family closely linked to Max’s, for better or for worse. However, unbeknownst to the two families, their interpersonal conflict is not the biggest danger looming over them hundreds of feet underground. Instead, the real threat lies with Minerva, CEO of Kimera, who is in charge of ensuring everyone’s survival as the world’s apparent ending traps everyone within her bunkers’ confines. Thus, the Kimera Underground Park, a place of security and danger in equal measures, remains at the center of the story.
Real-Life Luxury Survival Shelters Inspired the Kimera Underground Park
Although fans will easily be able to find an online presence for Kimera Underground Park, which bears a striking resemblance to the on-screen company, the security bunker establishment is not a real entity. Instead, it’s a fictitious creation, designed in service of ‘Billionaires’ Bunker.’ The idea itself stems from the various real-life companies that provide bunker-building and installation services. Reportedly, the Texas-based Rising S Company is known for underground bunkers and survival shelters, especially of the luxurious variety. Other similar businesses include Vivos shelters, Atlas Survival Shelters, and more. Notably, the Aerie Project, expected to become operational by summer 2026, sustains glaring similarities to the on-screen Kimera Underground Park. According to a Forbes report, the Aerie Project plans to open $300 million Doomsday Bunkers across the US and other locations worldwide.
These locations will be equipped with medical suites that will be AI-powered alongside various other luxurious amenities like gourmet dining, swimming pools, wellness programs, and more. The bunker, expected to be a global network, would be a members-only endeavor, and might come up to $20 million per person. “The whole reason Aerie came to be is that after building multimillion-dollar sanctuaries for our clients on their estates and superyachts, they still traveled away from their protected homes to locations with a lower level of protection,” Al Corbi, President of SAFE, told Forbes. “When something terrible happens, they can use one of the bunkers and facilities in the city they find themselves in.” While there is nothing that suggests a direct link between the Aerie Project and the bunker featured in ‘Billionaires’ Bunker,’ the former provides an efficient real-life context for the fictitious company.
Kimera Underground Park was Created For Billionaires’ Bunker
Even though Kimera Underground Park remains a work of fiction, the show employs many avenues to ensure the company’s titular underground shelter offers a realistic on-screen depiction. The bunker was built on 7,200 square meters of expansive multiset. The soundstage included a scenic Zen garden complete with an eight-meter-tall bonsai tree, which can often be glimpsed in the background of Max and his fellow inhibitors’ narratives. Along with being technologically impressive, the set design for the underground bunker was also stylistically authentic. Art director Abdón Alcañiz and his team took inspiration from the minimalist and Bauhaus style of post-World War II architecture and interior.
As such, the show’s visual aesthetic, rich in dichotomies of blues and oranges, presents a more natural sense of post-apocalyptic dread. The visual and narrative impact of the bunker ultimately plays into the show’s foundational premise. Co-creator Esther Martínez Lobato spoke about the same in a conversation with Deadline. She said, “Those people with an aspirational life outside of a bunker are very different when you put them inside a bunker. Their money becomes almost worthless, so you can dig into their identity, their hearts, and their personal relationships. And visually, we have two teams wearing two different colors, so you challenge the audience from the beginning of the show.”
Read More: Billionaires’ Bunker Season 2 Plot and Cast Theories
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