South Africa's International Emmy-nominated production house Both Worlds and Paris-based Paradoxal have inked an exclusive rights deal with best-selling South African author Dion Meyer to develop two of their best-known properties as premium TV series, the companies announced just ahead of Series Mania.
Mayer is attached to both projects as an executive producer.
more than variety
“Umzingeli” (“The Hunter”) is an ambitious, contemporary, multi-regional espionage thriller focusing on Thobela “Tiny” Mpeifeli, a KGB- and Stasi-trained assassin whose character spans four of Meyer's novels. Now living under a false identity in Bordeaux, he has left his past behind – or so he believes.
Revolving around Bordeaux, Bilbao, Benelux, Berlin and Southern Africa, the series is designed to be a returnable, character-driven action-thriller of international scope. Noah Stollman (“Fauda,” “Our Boys”) has joined as head writer and showrunner, along with South African novelist and journalist Fred Khumalo.
“Dead at Daybreak”, meanwhile, is an adaptation of Meyer's breakthrough novel and winner of the French Grand Prix de Littérature Polisière. A noir series set in Cape Town in 1996, at the cross-section of the old South Africa and the new, it focuses on Zatopek van Heerden, a former policeman turned private investigator – a man trying to reinvent himself in the country.
Tertius Kapp (“Donkerbos”) is attached as head writer and Jaco Bouvier (“Spinners”) as director, bringing together two of South Africa’s hottest talents.
Widely considered the king of South African crime fiction, Meyer's work has been translated into 28 languages in over 40 countries. The Netflix adaptation of his hit espionage thriller “Heart of the Hunter” made history as the first African film to reach number one on the streamer's global top 10 for English-language films.
Describing the “special” partnership that will bring two of his beloved characters to the screen, Meyer said he is “proud and delighted to be a part of this extraordinary project.”
He said, “Thobela and Zatopek are two characters I love creating and developing.” “Both played a huge role in establishing me internationally and deserve a special team of creative people to lead them into the next chapter of their journey.”
Stollman, known for the hit series “Fauda” and “Our Boys,” said he was “proud to be involved in such a relevant and ambitious TV adaptation,” adding that “The Hunter” brings with it “a message for our day and age.”
Stollman said, “Although I come from a very different part of the world, I was immediately drawn to Dion Meyer's universe, where courageous men and women fought for equality and justice, then had to adapt and evolve in a post-truth world full of moral gray zones and impossible choices.” “The character of Tiny embodies this tension – he is a man with moral clarity who is shaped by a cause that no longer exists, and although he is tired and disillusioned, he will never walk away from the fight.”
Both series mark the latest collaboration between Both Worlds and Paradoxal, who have worked as co-development and co-financing partners since 2019, teaming on Acorn TV’s cozy-crime series “Recipe for Love and Murder” and Prime Video’s “The Morning After,” which recently won four awards, including Best TV Comedy, at the South African Film and Television Awards.
Thierry Cassuto, executive producer of Cape Town-based Both Worlds, said Mayer's work “sits at the intersection of the deeply local and the truly universal,” placing it “exactly where the best television lives.”
Cassuto said, “With 'Umjingeli' (The Hunter), we have a character and a world that can hold its own with anything being made in Europe or America at the moment.” “'Dead at Daybreak' is a different proposition – intimate, period, rooted in Cape Town – but equally driven by a protagonist you can't look away from. With Noah and Fred on one, Tertius and Jaco on the other, the creative foundation couldn't be stronger.”
Rémi Jacquelin, executive producer of Paradoxal, said: “From a French and European perspective, the timing could not be better. The appetite for premium series with a strong authorial voice and international scope is real and growing. With a South Africa-France co-production structure, two projects based on one of the world's most distinctive literary voices – it's a proposition that travels. We are proud to bring both to Series Mania.”
best variety
sign up for Variety's Newsletter. Follow us for latest news Facebook, TwitterAnd Instagram.