Netflix gets first Polish original

Streaming service Netflix, which is set to spend over US$6 billion this year, has unveiled its first original from Poland.

The currently untitled show will come from Joshua Long, and is set in version of Poland in a world where the Cold War never ended.

Burning Bush director Agnieszka Holland and Kasia Adamik is to direct the eight-episode series, which will launch on Netflix around the world in 2018.

The plot will begin in 2002, 20 years after a devastating terrorist attack that halted Poland’s liberation from the Soviet Union, and the latter’s subsequent collapse.

It will follow an idealistic law student and a disgraced police investigator who discover the conspiracy that has kept in place a regressive police state.

Joshua Long is behind the series, with US-based prodco The Kennedy/Marshall Company and Poland’s The House Media Company coproducing.

Frank Marshall (Jurassic World, Jason Bourne) and Robert Zotnowski (House of Cards) will be executive producers for Kennedy/Marshall, along with House Media’s Andrzej Besztak, Long, Maciej Musiał and Holland.

“We are really happy that we’ll be able to combine the wonderful experience of the Netflix team, our great American producers and writer, with Polish talent and a Polish sensibility,” said Holland, the Academy Award-nominated director best known in TV circles for HBO Europe miniseries Burning Bush.

Netflix has already localised its offer in Poland with local-language content and acquisitions, but this is the first time it has ordered an original from the territory.

“We are confident that this genre will not only resonate with the Polish audience but will also travel globally and we can’t wait to share more details later this year,” said Erik Barmack, VP of international series at the streaming giant.

Last week, Netflix ordered its first original from Sweden, Quicksand, which has The Bridge lead writer Camilla Ahlgren attached.