Fauda returns with a French twist
Global hit series about to go into production with the star of Inglorious Basterds
Brigit Grant is the Jewish News Supplements Editor
Fauda is really set to return—after much thought about how and when was the right time to bring back the gritty, adrenaline-charged series that follows a team of elite Israeli undercover agents as it works to apprehend terrorists – as experienced by its creators Avi Issacharoff and Lior Raz
Raz who also plays Doron Kavillio, a seasoned operative and former commander in Fauda will star opposite acclaimed French actor Mélanie Laurent in Season 5, which begins production later this month, though details about her character in Fauda are tightly under wraps.
Laurent, a familiar face to international audiences since her breakout role in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds(2009) as Shosanna Dreyfus, a young Jewish woman in Nazi-occupied France whose family is murdered by SS Colonel Hans Landa (played by Christoph Waltz)will appear in seven of the nine episodes and it is a reunion, as Laurent and Raz previously shared the screen in Netflix’s explosive 2019 film 6 Underground.
Laurent who has both Ashkenazi (Polish) and Sephardic (Tunisian) ancestry also starred in Now You See Me (2013) and Operation Finale (2018), and is a two-time César Award winner and Lumières Award recipient, and last year played Marie-Antoinette in The Flood.
Although he was no longer obligated to serve in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reserves due to his age, Lior Raz returned to active service after the October 7 attacks and voluntarily joined, Brothers in Arms, a group of Israeli veterans. The organisation, initially formed to protest governmental judicial reforms, pivoted to assist in emergency response efforts after the attacks and on October 8, Raz participated in rescue missions in the southern town of Sderot, helping to evacuate families under rocket fire.
How much of October 7 will feature or even be touched upon in the new season of Fauda has not been revealed, though Raz and Issacharoff were tapped by Leviathan Productions last year to write a script for a film that would detail the events. Lauded for its raw realism, complex characters, and sharp political nuance, the show redefined how audiences understand the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But that was before October 7.
Produced by yes Studios, the upcoming season is being directed by Omri Givon (Hostages) and penned by Omri Shenhar, known for his work on Tehran which has completed a new season, but it has yet to be shown outside of Israel.
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