Amazon MGM is listening to the fans, and the third piece of the Dirty Air puzzle is the Through My Window star.
Throttled casting is paying attention. The people behind it are watching what fans say, what they ask for, and what they’re excited about, and readers have been thrilled with the casting so far: Josh Heuston as Noah Slade and Nicole Wallace as Maya Alatorre.
When you already have two of the Prime Video universe’s biggest romance stars leading a movie people can’t wait for, what do you do next? You add another one. Julio Peña (Through My Window) has joined the cast of Throttled, Amazon MGM Studios’ romance based on the first book in Lauren Asher’s bestselling Dirty Air series.
Who he’s playing
Peña will play Santi Alatorre. He’s Maya’s older brother, a driver on the racing circuit, and the teammate and fiercest rival of Noah Slade, who falls into a forbidden romance with Maya.
And honestly, that’s the role that makes this whole story work. In the book, Santi has one rule: his teammate stays away from his sister. That’s what makes Maya and Noah’s romance forbidden instead of just inconvenient. Santi isn’t the villain of this love story. He’s the stakes. Every stolen moment between Maya and Noah is also a betrayal of the person Maya came all this way to support, and of the man Noah has to race wheel to wheel every weekend.
That means the movie needs an actor who can play both sides of Santi – the protective big brother you understand, and the competitor who has every reason not to trust Noah. Get that wrong and the forbidden romance has no weight. Get it right and you have a real triangle, where loyalty, family, and ambition all pull in different directions.
Why Peña makes sense
Peña is best known for the Through My Window trilogy on Netflix, whose first film logged 68 million views in its first two weeks. If anyone understands what romance fans want from a book-to-screen adaptation, and how intense that fandom can be, it’s him. He’s already been the face of a love story millions of people had opinions about before the cameras ever rolled.
He also has range beyond romance. He recently wrapped the untitled Meta series based on A24’s Talk to Me. Last year he led The Captive, directed by Alejandro Amenábar (The Others, The Sea Inside), which premiered at TIFF and earned him a Goya Award nomination for Best New Actor. He also stars in the Money Heist spinoff Berlin, Netflix’s most-watched series globally. He’s based in Madrid.
That mix matters for Santi. A romance lead knows how to make you feel something, and a prestige drama actor knows how to hold tension in a scene. Santi needs both: warmth with Maya, and an edge with Noah that you can feel even when nobody’s talking.
There’s also something lovely about the pairing on a practical level. Wallace and Peña both come out of Spain’s biggest romance franchises, and the Alatorres are a Spanish family. Casting siblings who share that background could give their scenes an ease and familiarity that’s hard to fake, and the sibling bond is the heart of this book as much as the romance is.
With Noah, Maya, and now Santi in place, the core triangle is set. The rival, the sister, and the brother are all cast, and every one of them already knows how to carry a romance fandom. Amazon clearly isn’t treating this as a small adaptation. It’s building a franchise, and it’s casting like it knows exactly who’s watching.
BEHIND THE SCENES
Nzingha Stewart will be directing the project. Max Handelman and Elizabeth Banks of Brownstone Productions are producing along with Ethea Entertainment’s Jennifer Gibgot and Andrew Panay. Garrett Grant is also producing, with Alison Small of Brownstone Productions and Asher executive producing.
Ethea Entertainment is definitely making a name for themselves in the world of romance and adaptations. Gibgot and Panay of Ethea recently produced The Last Sunrise, Prime’s film adaptation of Anna Todd‘s bestselling romance novel, after producing the After films also based on Todd’s books. Most recently, they set up House of Crowns, a romance series in early development at Amazon MGM, based on a forthcoming novel from Todd.
Melissa Osborne, who wrote Prime Video’s My Fault: London has adapted the book.
Lauren Asher has sold more than five million books worldwide and the Dirty Air series being translated into 14 languages. In addition to Throttled (2020) – the series also includes Collided (2020), Wrecked (2020) and Redeemed (2021).
Amazon MGM Studios has landed worldwide distribution rights for the film, which will be available in more than 240 countries and territories on Prime Video.
We’re sat and listening. We’re waiting for more information. We will definitely be watching this one.
