Discovery, Netflix team for original drama

Discovery Canada has ordered Frontier, its first original drama, and Netflix has scooped the international rights.

Shooting is underway on the 4K series, which will star Jason Momoa (Game of Thrones) and follow the battle to control the North American fur trade of the late 18^th century.

Discovery Canada is a specialty channel run as a joint venture between Discovery and Canadian telco and media giant Bell.

The show will bow on Discovery in Canada as well as being available on Crave, the SVOD service Bell launched last year.

Outside of Canada the series will be on streaming platform Netflix.

Canada-based indies Take the Shot Productions and Factory Backwards will make the six-part one-hour series, which will tell the story from different perspectives and and the cast also includes Alun Armstrong (Braveheart), Landon Liboiron (Hemlock Grove), and Allan Hawco (Republic of Doyle). Brad Peyton (San Andreas) will direct the first two episodes.

“Never shying away from new, exciting, and often epic projects, Discovery enters the world of scripted series for the first time with an amazing story of worlds colliding,” said Ken MacDonald, and general manager, Discovery.

“The story of Frontier is rich, authentic, and teeming with strong characters portrayed by an A-list cast. We’re excited for production to begin, and to partner with Netflix to take this story to international audiences.”