There's been no announcement from Netflix South Africa about this, but the global streamer on Wednesday said that it is set to do more series produced in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region, although Africa was conspicuously left out when it came to Netflix's content announcement today.
While Netflix didn't issue any press releases about its annual What's Next Netflix event for the EMEA region held today in Rome, Italy, it announced that it will be doing several scripted series, with more to come specifically for the EMEA region.
Part of the newly unveiled Netflix content for Europe and the Middle East - and with Africa conspicuously absent despite Netflix saying it will be doing content from Africa - is an original, 6-episode series entitled The English Game, written by Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes.
The English Game will revolve around the invention of football and how those involved in its creation reached across the class divide to establish the game as the world's most popular sport. The English Game will be produced by the British production company 42.
Also included as part of Netflix new Europe content and announced at What's Next Netflix is Netflix's first Dutch original series.
The untitled project, created by production company Pupkin and starting in 2019 will be about Dutch students living in Amsterdam who open a portal to a demonic world from the 17th century.
Mortel will be Netflix’s 5th original series from France and tell the story of teenagers bound together by a supernatural force. The series will be created by Frédéric Garcia and produced by Mandarin Television.
The Wave will be Netflix's 3rd original series from Germany and is based on the film The Wave, produced by Rat Pack in association with Sony Pictures Television Germany.
Luna Nera from Italy is a series about women suspected of witchcraft in the 17th century and produced by Fandango, while the Spanish heist series La Casa de Papel will get a third season in 2019.
Idris Elba will appear in the Netflix comedy series Turn Up Charlie that will have 8 episodes.
An as yet untitled documentary series will be based on the murder of Grégory Villemin in 1984 in France.
The documentary series The Staircase will tell the story of Michael Peterson, a crime novelist accused of killing his wife Kathleen after she is found dead at the bottom of a staircase in their home.
Netflix also announced its first Italian original film, Rimetti a Noi i Nostri Debiti (Forgive Us Our Debts).
"Our belief is that great storytelling transcends borders. When stories from different countries, languages and cultures find a worldwide platform where the only limitation is the creator’s imagination, then unique, yet universal, stories emerge that are embraced by a global audience," said Ted Sarandos, Netflix's chief content officer.
"With over 100 European projects launching this year, we are committed to being a voice for European entertainment, giving passionate local content creators a worldwide platform to share their vision, and offering consumers around the world unique and diverse stories they can discover and enjoy, anywhere, anytime and at the same time, no matter their place or language of origin. And this is just the beginning of our journey."
