HBO Europe, Starzplay and more take coming-of-age drama ‘We Are Who We Are’ global

Broadcasters and platforms across the world have acquired Luca Guadagnino’s eight-part drama We Are Who We Are, following a slew of deals with distributor Fremantle.

The series has travelled to 133 territories in total, with agreements struck with M-Net for South Africa, HBO Europe for the Nordics, Spain, Portugal and CEE, HBO for Latin America and the Caribbean, Starzplay for Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, Germany, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

The show has also been picked up by Vodafone for Greece, More.tv for Russia, GO Plc for Malta, BluTV for Turkey, SBS for Australia, Bell Media’s Super Écran and Crave for French Canada and Watcha for South Korea, while BBC Three previously took exclusive rights for the UK, where it will launch on 22 November.

We Are Who We Are is an HBO-Sky co-production, which originally launched on HBO in the US in September. Suspiria director Guadagnino, making his TV debut, is attached as showrunner, executive producer, director and writer, with Paolo Giordano and Francesca Manieri writing alongside him.

The series is produced – and executive produced – by Lorenzo Mieli for The Apartment and by Mario Gianani for Wildside, both Fremantle companies, with Small Forward. Elena Recchia, Nick Hall, Sean Conway, and Francesco Melzi d’Eril are also attached as executive producers, while Chloë Sevigny, Jack Dylan Grazer and Alice Braga head the cast.

The series tells the story of two American kids living on a US military base in Italy and explores friendship, first love and identity through the exhilaration and anguish of being a teenager.

Jens Richter, CEO, international, at Fremantle hailed Guadagnino for bringing “his distinctive filming style” to the small screen and the series as “a universal coming-of age story that reflects many of the issues that matter to young audiences today.”

Italian filmmaker Guadagnino is also known for drama features including Call Me By Your Name,  Bigger Splash and The Protagonists, as well documentaries Salvatore: The Shoemaker Of Dreams and Belluscone: A Sicilian Story.