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Stephen King might be the master of horror, but he’s also pretty active when it comes to recommending good TV. Over the years, he’s shared quite a few picks with his fans, including smart horror series and crime shows that are, as he once put it, “impossible not to binge.”

Back in 2022, King gave a shoutout to a Netflix show that many people might’ve missed. The series is called Kleo, and he described it as “a breath of fresh air.” In a post on X (formerly Twitter), he said: “Kleo (Netflix): What a breath of fresh air! Suspenseful and also very funny. I wonder, though, where Kleo’s money came from. Flying off to Mallorca mustn’t have been cheap, even in 1989.”

Via X

Kleo is a German action-thriller series that mixes suspense, dark humor, and spy drama. It first came out in August 2022 and just...

Stephen King has a long history of recommending movies and shows he loves, and one of his past picks is a Netflix spy series you might’ve missed. It’s called Kleo, and according to King, it’s “a breath of fresh air.”

Best known for his horror classics, King doesn’t just stick to scary stories. He’s shared his love for police dramas, clever takes on horror villains, and now, this action-packed German thriller. He posted his thoughts on X back in 2022, writing: “Kleo (Netflix): What a breath of fresh air! Suspenseful and also very funny. I wonder, though, where Kleo’s money came from. Flying off to Mallorca mustn’t have been cheap, even in 1989.” (source: Dread Central)

Via X

The show Kleo follows a woman named Kleo Straub, a former assassin for East Germany’s secret police, the Stasi. After completing a deadly mission in West Berlin,...

Exclusive: Studio Zentral, the German production company behind Mascha Shilinski’s Cannes competition feature Sound Of Falling, is developing neo-Nazi tale The Aughts penned by Richard Kropf, the writer behind by hit series such as TNT’s 4Blocks and Netflix’s Kleo and Marc Rothemund’s feature Weekend Rebels.

It is one of a number of new projects being readied by the fast growing Berlin and Munich-based Studio Zentral, which is backed by German broadcaster Zdf’s Studios Group.

The Aughts is adapted from the book Nullerjahre by Hendrik Bolz. It is a memoir about a post-reunification adolescence among Neo-Nazis,...

Projects from creators in Europe, Taiwan, Japan, Israel and the UK are among those to have been shortlisted as part of Series Mania Forum’s Co-Pro Pitching Sessions, which takes place next month.

An international jury of industry professionals will determine the best project among the 15 shortlisted, with the winner taking home €50,000 to help develop the series.

The shows – full details of which can be found below - were selected from 406 applications from 72 countries, including new territories such as New Zealand, The Philippines, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Uganda and Eswatini.

A 16th project, Ruth’s Ghosts from the US/Germany (6 x 60 minutes), was...

The 15 projects competing at this year’s Series Mania Co-Pro Pitching Sessions have been unveiled.

Shows from the likes of Denmark’s Zentropa, Australia’s Wooden Horse and Israel’s Sipur will fight for a €50,000 development prize, selected by a jury headed up by President M-k Kennedy, Executive Managing Director of TV Series at Studiocanal in the UK.

A sixteenth project, U.S.-Germany co-pro Ruth’s Ghosts, has been selected but will not compete for the grand prize.

Zentropa is behind Christoffer Boe-penned thriller Cecilie Mars, Wooden Horse’s Jude Troy is co-creator of Elise McCredie’s drama The Chaplain and Sipur is working on UK-Israeli co-pro Intimacy, which is written by Dan Berlinka.

Other notable projects include Icelandic crime thriller Masquerade, which is from Glassriver; Greek crime drama Antiparos; German political thriller Consultants; Franco-Belgian period crime drama Heist; “flamboyant” crime comedy Nest, which has Belgian, British and...

Mark Wahlberg to star in Apple TV's sports comedy "Weekend Warriors," following his successful collaboration in "The Family Plan." "Weekend Warriors" will be based on the German sports comedy "Weekend Rebels" with a father-son journey to find a favorite soccer club. Apple TV's success continues with original films like "Coda" winning Best Picture, and upcoming releases like "F1" and "Wolfs."

Apple TV continues to make moves with its original film releases, landing another hot ticket project. The latest, a sports comedy titled Weekend Warriors, is set to star Mark Wahlberg in his second collaboration with the company, following his success in the recent Apple film The Family Plan.

First reported by Deadline, Weekend Warriors is set to be written and directed by Stephen Chbosky, the author of The Perks of Being a Wallflower. Chbosky also wrote the screenplays for Disney's live-action Beauty and the Beast and the 2017 family drama Wonder.

After claiming the top spot in Netflix’s English Film list with The Union, Mark Wahlberg is back in the news for a different project that brings him back to Apple. Wahlberg is teaming up with Stephen Chbosky for Weekend Warriors, a comedic sports drama written and directed by Chbosky. Multiple studios tried to snag the rights to this one, but Apple Original Films took the pot. Mark Wahlberg stars in Weekend Warriors, with Plan B and The SpringHill Company producing.

Weekend Warriors takes inspiration from the 2023 feature Weekend Rebels, an original German-language sports comedy focusing on the true story of Mirco and Jason von Juterzcenka. The plot revolves around a father and his autistic son, who wants to find his favorite soccer club in the Premier League by forcing his dad to take him to see every team so he can decide. Sources with inside knowledge about the project...

Exclusive: Following the success of The Family Plan, Mark Wahlberg and Apple are looking to get back in business as sources tell Deadline that in a competitive situation, Apple Original Films has landed the hot package Weekend Warriors. The new feature will be written and directed by Stephen Chbosky, with Wahlberg attached to star.

Plan B and The SpringHill Company are set to produce the project, which will be developed and produced by Apple Studios. Insiders say the film is in early development.

The project is based on the 2023 pic Weekend Rebels, an original German-language sports comedy-drama based on the true story of Mirco and Jason von Juterzcenka. The story follows a father and his autistic son, who wants to find a favorite Premiere League soccer club and makes his father take him to see every single team so he can decide. Sources say this version is said to take...

Kleo is a German spy action-thriller and dark comedy-drama series created by Hanno Hackfort, Richard Kropf, and Bob Konrad. The Netflix series is set in 1989, soon after the fall of the Berlin Wall and it follows the story of a former East German spy as she goes on a revenge mission to kill people who betrayed her. Kleo stars Jella Haase in the lead role with Dimitrij Schaad, Julius Feldmeier, Vincent Redetzki, and Marta Sroka starring in supporting roles. So, if you loved the dark comedy, thrilling drama, and espionage in Kleo here are some similar shows you should check out next.

Killing Eve Credit – BBC America

Killing Eve is a British spy thriller and dark comedy-drama series created by Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Based on a novel series titled Villanelle by author Luke Jennings, the BBC America series revolves around a bored British intelligence agent who is tasked with tracking down psychotic assassin,...

One of the coolest and most beloved sub-genres for thriller, action, and drama fans is the spy genre and there’s a good reason. In a spy film or series, we get complicated and cool characters who put their lives on the line by going against numerous people and instead of always letting their guns talk they use more covert tactics, which are always thrilling to watch. So, Netflix being what it is, it has a large library of content and also some of the best spy shows you can find and that’s what inspired us to compile a list of the best spy shows you can watch on Netflix right now.

Fubar Credit – Netflix

Fubar is an action thriller and comedy-drama series created by Nick Santora. The Netflix series follows the story of Luke Brunner, a recently retired CIA agent who finds out that his daughter is also...

Lille, France –Bowing in 2010 as a boutique event at Paris’ Forum des Images – though launched with an absolute conviction in the cultural import of premium TV series, Series Mania will kick off its 15th edition on March 15 in Lille, Eastern France, reconfirming it status as the biggest dedicated TV festival in Europe.

It does so with a bang, with the European premiere of one of the biggest series of the year, Netflix’s “3 Body Problem,” which “cements ‘Game of Thrones’ creators as masters of adapting the

unadaptable,” Variety announced.

Delegate accreditation at Series Mania’s Forum, its three-day industry event running March 19-21, is on track to pass 4,000 participants, an all time record, and a huge step-up, say, from 2016, when attendance was limited to around 300 executives. That same edition sneak-peeked Netflix’s first French original, “Marseilles.” Since 2010, Series Mania has grown in synch with the world’s fast-ramping premium cable TV,...

Drama series set in the worlds of Eurovision and the Vatican are among the selected projects for Series Mania’s Co-Pro Pitching Sessions next month.

Among the 16 titles are European six-parter Eurovision Murder Mystery, which is from France’s Apc Stories and Germany’s Friday Film. Plot details were thin, but synopsis reads: “When you have 72 hours to solve a murder, save Eurovision and the fate of Europe. Fabienne Hurst and Bertrand Soulier are writing.

Vatican, from Italy’s Fabula Pictures, follows a father investigating the suspicious death of his only son. he discovers his child was involved in a prostitution ring inside the church used by unscrupulous bishops to control the Vatican policy. Flavio Bernard, Ciro Di Maso and Marcello Olivieri are attached to write.

Fifteen of the 16 Series Mania titles were previously unannounced for the event, which takes place on March 19 as part of the Series Mania Forum.

Exclusive: Picture Tree Int’l (Pti) has boarded sales on German Sophie Scholls – The Final Days Oscar-nominee and hitmaker Marc Rothemund’s heart-warming family drama Weekend Rebels, inspired by the true story of a father who forged a special bond with his autistic son through the search for a perfect soccer club.

The film, currently in post-production, is produced by Justyna Muesch, Quirin Berg and Max Wiedemann.

Their Oscar-winning banner Wiedemann & Berg Film company has delivered a slew of award-winning pictures over the years including The Lives Of Others, Never Look Away and Who Am I. SevenPictures Film co-produces.

Leonine Studios is also on board and will release the film in Germany on September 28, 2023.

Florian David Fitz leads the German cast as a father who gets closer to his 10-year-old autistic son through a quest to find a soccer club they can support together,...

Exclusive: Netflix has renewed German spy thriller Kleo for a second season.

The show is set in 1987 and follows East German spy Kleo Straub, played by Jella Haase, who kills a businessman in West Berlin while on a mission with a secret Stasi commando. Not long after, she’s arrested by the Stasi on spurious claims and denounced by everyone she knows. After two years in jail, the Berlin Wall falls, and Kleo is suddenly free, but she soon finds out that the conspiracy against her is much bigger than she could have imagined, and an ominous red suitcase appears to be the missing puzzle piece.

Kleo season one was unveiled on a mega Netflix Europe slate that included almost 20 projects in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, at which point the streamer committed to doubling its investment in the region to 500M Euros (482M) between 2021 and 2023. Other shows on the slate included historical thriller The Empress.

Netflix has doubled its budget to €500 million ($571 million) for German-language productions between 2021 and 2023 and has revealed a raft of new projects.

On Tuesday, the Netflix German-language team presented a selection of 19 productions, including previously announced projects, at the Content Remote Show. The shows are from Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

New series include eight-parter “Achtsam Morden” (working title), based on the book of the same name by Karsten Dusse, which topped the Spiegel bestseller list for over nine months and is now being filmed for Netflix by Constantin Film, Jan Ehlert and Nina Viktoria Philipp. Writers Miriam Rechel and Chris Geletneky tell the story of top lawyer Björn Diemel, who to save his marriage, finds a new work-life balance with the help of a mindfulness seminar and accidentally becomes a murderer in the process.

Another book adaptation, also produced by Constantin Television, is thriller series “Liebes Kind” (working title). Based on the novel by Romy Hausmann,...

Documentary

Fremantle has won a bidding war for exclusive rights to produce a high-end documentary about Raffaella Carrà, the iconic Italian singer, actor, dancer and TV host who was a pop culture sensation across Europe and Latin America.

Carrà, who died in July at 78, rose to fame in Italy as a singer and dancer during the 1970’s as co-host of the variety show “Canzonissima,” where she plugged her original songs directly into its dance and music numbers, including the show’s opening credits. On the show she famously wore a risquè outfit that marked the first time a woman dared to expose her midriff on TV in Italy, sparking an uproar form the Vatican and sending the ratings soaring. But Carrà was never one of the many women whose bodies were exploited on Italian TV. On the contrary, she became a symbol of female empowerment.

In 1976, she sang her first major international hit,...

Icelandic film production company Sagafilm and Sweden’s LittleBig Productions are developing a historical series about 17th-century Icelanders abducted by Barbary corsairs and sold into slavery in North Africa.

Tentatively titled “Salé” — a city on the North African coast that was also a haven for pirates — the series is inspired by true events. It begins in the summer of 1627, when several hundred people in settlements along Iceland’s coast are captured by Barbary privateers under the command of the Dutch pirate Jan Janszoon, more commonly known as Admiral Murat Reis. Among his prisoners are Gunnur, the wife of a young fisherman, and her 12-year-old daughter Gríma. When they are brought to the North African slave markets, mother and daughter are separated, sold to different masters and forced to develop different strategies in order to survive.

Described as a thrilling tale of love, survival, revenge, and the power of hope, “Salé...

Alexis von Wittgenstein’s Munich-based production shingle Violet Pictures is expanding its TV series pipeline with a slew of new projects, among them a historical drama about the role of women in the creation of modern Europe, the story of a mother of three who became one of the Soviet Union’s most successful spies, and a 1970s-set anti-nuclear activist romance.

The company, whose credits include “Oktoberfest: Beer & Blood,” which premiered last year on Ard and currently streams on Netflix, is also partnering with “Unorthodox” producer Real Film Berlin on a four-project slate that includes the tentatively titled “Sayn & Schein,” a dark comedy about a royal title dealer set in the present-day world of German and British aristocracy.

“It’s a booming market,” says von Wittgenstein, noting that there are people who pay intermediaries hundreds of thousands of euros to obtain princely titles. The series is also produced by Michael Lehmann,...

Berlin-based Flare Film is ramping up series production with two new high-concept projects in development while currently producing the eight-part “Paradiso” for Sky Deutschland, the first project from the company’s recently launched Flare Entertainment division.

Flare Entertainment is partnering with Beta Film and Deutsche Telekom streaming platform MagentaTV on “The Daughter,” created by Pola Beck and the writing trio known locally as the HaRiBos, Hanno Hackfort, Richard Kropf and Bob Konrad, with Beck and Kropf serving as showrunners.

The series tells the fact-based story of Tinka, a directionless teenager forced to grow up overnight when her wealthy parents are arrested for running the biggest cocaine ring in Berlin. As she works to free them from jail, she uncovers their secret lives and delves ever deeper into the family business.

Described as “Breaking Bad” meets French cinema, the eight-part family drama examines the shifting power dynamics between a daughter and...

Turner International has ordered the third and final season of the hit German gangster series “4 Blocks,” which world-premiered at the Berlin Film Festival last year and went on to win multiple awards.

The third season will comprise six episodes and will be directed by Özgür Yıldırım, who had co-helmed Season 2 with Oliver Hirschbiegel. It will start shooting in the spring and is scheduled to premiere next winter.

Amazon Prime Video will stream the series’ second season across more than 150 countries, including the U.S and the U.K., starting Saturday, followed by another 50 countries, including Germany and France, in late 2019. The series will be available on Amazon Prime in German and dubbed into Spanish, Portuguese and Italian, with subtitles in many more languages, including English, Chinese and Japanese. An English-language dubbed version of both seasons will be delivered in January.

“The second season reached over 60% more viewers than Season...

Turner’s hit German gangster saga 4 Blocks has been recommissioned for a third and final season.

The show, which airs internationally on Amazon Prime Video, has been reordered for a third season for six episodes by TNT Serie, Turner Germany’s series channel. The show is produced by Wiedemann & Berg Television, producers of Netflix’s Dark. Shooting starts in spring 2019 and it will air in winter 2019.

The drama stars Kida Khodr Ramadan as the leader of a crime family and drug cartel in Berlin, who is forced to live an ordinary life after his brother is arrested.

4 Blocks was developed by screenwriting trio Hanno Hackfort, Bob Konrad, and Richard Kropf, as well as by Marvin Kren, who also directed season one. The second season was directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel (Der Untergang) and Özgür Yıldırım. Marvin Kren acted as executive producer alongside Quirin Berg and Max Wiedemann,...