Netflix’s new series ‘Kaleidoscope’ is based on a real-life event where ‘$70 billion worth of bonds’ were flooded in a storm after Hurricane Sandy.
- Kaleidoscope premieres on Netflix on Sunday, Jan 1, 2022, and is loosely based on a real mystery.
- In 2012, Hurricane Sandy caused an underground vault to flood. It was full of bonds worth $70 billion.
- The show’s creator Eric Garcia said he used this story as the basis for his anthology heist series.
Let’s start the new year with something we haven’t witnessed on streaming yet. Created by Eric Garcia, Kaleidoscope (previously titled Jigsaw) is an all-new anthology series that’s different from anything we have seen to date. Netflix’s new miniseries “Kaleidoscope” is based on a true story of a company that nearly lost billions of bonds due to flooding in its underground vault.
The new series follows a group of criminals who attempt to pull off a heist in the middle of a storm. In an interview with Netflix’s website Tudum, the show’s creator Eric Garcia said that the idea of a heist in the middle of a storm was inspired by a real-life event in 2012 where “$70 billion worth of bonds got flooded” during Hurricane Sandy.
“It’s loosely based on something that might have happened,” he said. “After Hurricane Sandy, $70 billion worth of bonds got flooded in the basement of the DTCC, which is a large clearing effort that’s owned by a bunch of the big banks. To my mind, I was like, ‘Well, that’s a perfect coverup for a heist!'”
Here’s everything you need to know about the new series and the real-life incident on which it is based.
The real story behind the flooding of an underground vault after Hurricane Sandy
Hurricane Sandy hit the United States, Canada, and the Caribbean in 2012. The storm imposed nearly $70 billion (2012) in damage and killed 233 people across eight countries from the Caribbean to Canada.
This destructive storm caused flooding in New York, including the underground vault of the DTCC, a Wall Street-owned organization. The financial organization sheltered more than 1.7 million paper certificates for shares and bonds.
Two weeks after the incident, the company’s spokeswoman Judy Inosanto said that the vault had a “very small percentage” of the $39.5 trillion of stocks and bonds that the company stores. She said most of the bonds and stocks were handled electronically.
According to their annual report in 2013, the DTCC said they had recovered and restored 99% of the certificates from the flooded vault.
What is the plot of Kaleidoscope?
Spanning 25 years, the show follows a crew of proficient thieves who work to unlock an apparently unbreakable vault to pull off an impossible heist during a hurricane. They aim to steal $7 billion worth of secret bonds owned by a criminal empire. Before they can get their hands on the cash, they must make it through the world’s most powerful corporate security team and the FBI.
Who is in the cast?
The series stars talented actors. Here’s a list of cast members along with the characters they are playing:
- Giancarlo Esposito as Leo Pap
- Paz Vega as Ava Mercer
- Rufus Sewell as Roger Salas
- Tati Gabrielle as Hannah Kim
- Rosaline Elbay as Judy Goodwin
- Peter Mark Kendall as Stan Loomis
- Jai Courtney as Bob Goodwin
- Niousha Noor as Nazan Abassi
- Patch Darragh as Andrew Covington
- Max Casella as Taco
How many episodes are there?
There are a total of eight episodes. The titles of these episodes are:
- Yellow: 6 Weeks Before The Heist
- Green: 7 Years Before the Heist
- Blue: 5 Days Before the Heist
- Violet: 24 Years Before the Heist
- Orange: 3 Weeks Before the Heist
- Red: The Morning After the Heist
- Pink: 6 Months After
- White: The Heist
The creators of the series also brag that it can be watched in any order since it is non-chronological. The eight episodes of the series take place at different points before, during, and after the heist ranging from 24 years before the heist to 6 months after.
“When you watch Kaleidoscope, all the information is there to be able to connect the dots and know the story,” said executive producer Russell Fine, who also directed two episodes of the show.
When and where to watch Kaleidoscope?
Kaleidoscope premieres exclusively on Netflix on Sunday, Jan 1, 2023.
