Groundbreaking Greek Drama ‘The Witch’ Gets A Prequel Series, Production About To Start – NATPE Budapest
The Witch is the biggest series of its kind out of Greece and Antenna has conjured a second season of the epic period drama. Season two is teed up as a sequel.
George Levendis, Managing Director of Antenna Greece, hosted a screening of The Witch at NATPE Budapest. He is well-known in media circles after a long stint working with Simon Cowell and running international at Syco.
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The sophomore season of the fantasy drama will be set before events in the first, and feature a new cast, director Lefteris Charitos explained. Cameras roll in the next few weeks, he told Deadline.
Set in 1817 Ottoman-occupied Greece, in the unconquered region of Mani, the series follows a young woman, Theofano (Elli Tringou), who has visions that lead her to a missing child and also arouse suspicions of witchcraft. As events unfold, she has to save herself and avert a civil war.
Nick Christoforou, Chief Content Officer at Antenna Group, said building immense sets on the required scale and filling them with extras was a novel challenge. “We had many actors, horses, fights and things never seen before in the Greek market and with a Greek series,” he said. “The first season was a complete story – we’re now in pre-production for the second season, which is a prequel.”
Charitos returns to direct season two. He picked up the prequel thread: “It’s a prequel meaning a different story, different actors. It’s the first time we have tried to do this in Greece; the people have 73 episodes of their favorite characters and they don’t want to lose them, but they have to.
“It’s like a new series in a way. In this season, we will explain how the protagonist of the witch from season one got the gift. There’s black magic, and it’s dark.”
The Witch was produced by JK Productions and Antenna Studios shops it internationally. On home turf it was the top primetime series on the Ant1 channel and had the most-watched series finale of the year. Season two will bow in 2025.
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