The Israeli media company that created the show that inspired Emmy-award winning Showtime drama Homeland has agreed to co-develop and produce a scripted Spanish-language series to air on Telemundo.
Keshet International (KI) and Telemundo Studios will co-produce the not-yet-announced offering, with development overseen by Telemundo Studios senior vice president of scripted development Perla Farias. Kelly Wright, KI’s head of Latin America, will oversee the project on behalf of the distribution and production company.
“Keshet is known for producing powerful, unconventional and bold scripted series,” Telemundo Network president Luis Silberwasser said. “We are very excited to partner with Keshet on this development deal and about the prospects of what we can create together.”
In an interview, Silberwasser would not say whether Telemundo was considering a Spanish-language adaptation of Homeland. However, he noted that the network’s 10 p.m. slot, which has focused on action-oriented narco/crime dramas, offers “inspiration” in that similar themes could be of interest to viewers even when the storyline takes place “in different and complex world.”
In addition to Prisoners of War, the Israeli show that served as the inspiration for Homeland, KI is known for such scripted shows as The A Word, Dig and The Gordin Cell, which was adapted for the U.S. market as Coercion and aired on NBC in 2014.
“As we step up the pace of our expansion in Latin America, original development will be a top priority,” Wright said. “Telemundo produces excellent, gripping content that commands impressive numbers in the U.S., and this collaboration between our best developers will deliver a new pipeline of premium programming to the channel.”
The news comes during a period of rapid growth for KI in Latin America. It recently announced the hire of Frank Scheuermann as head of development and production for the region, where he is charged with expanding local production and development capabilities.
