From ‘The Leopard’ To ‘The Seduction’

Next year promises to be a hot one for European productions, with everything from Netflix‘s Italian period drama The Leopard to Max Turkey’s The First Göktürk drawing audiences to non-English-language fare. Throw in the second season of young adult crowd pleaser Maxton Hall: The World Between Us and Prime Video Italy’s Jesse Williams vehicle Costiera and it promises to be a bumper 2025. Read on for our selection, and add your own in the comments.

‘Whiskey On The Rocks‘ (Disney+, SVT)
Sweden

We’re starting our tour with Disney+’s first Nordic original series, given that it premieres in select countries and on Hulu in the U.S. on January 22. It began airing on SVT1 in Sweden over Christmas, but we’ll give it a pass given the worldwide launch is etched in for 2025. The political satire — from Patrick Nebout, Henrik Jansson-Schweizer and Magnus Bimberg’s Humanoids — revolves around the early hours of October 28, 1981, when a Soviet nuclear Whiskey-class submarine was spotted aground inside a restricted Swedish military area. Step forward Sweden’s cool-headed Prime Minister Thorbjörn Fälldin (Rolf Lassgård) who is forced to play peacemaker between Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev (Kęstutis Stasys Jakštas) and U.S. President Ronald Reagan (Mark Noble).

‘Rise of the Raven‘ (TV2, ORF)
Hungary, Slovenia, Austria

This one is billed by producers as “the most epic Central European production of all time.” Hungary’s Gellért L. Kádár leads an international cast as Janos Hunyadi, the army commander who defeated Ottoman troops in the Battle of Belgrade in 1456. The epic swords ‘n’ sandals series, based on Bán Mór’s best-selling series of novels, could fill a House of the Dragon-shaped hole, given Season 3 of the George R.R. Martin adaptation won’t shoot until next year. TV2 has Rise rights in Hungary and Slovenia and ORF in Austria. Germany’s Beta is distributing globally, and co-produces alongside several others, including Robert Lantos, the Hungarian-Canadian producer.

‘The Leopard’ / ‘Il Gattopardo’ (Netflix)
Italy

Last year, Netflix Italy began the year with Supersex and this time round it is swapping pornography for period drama. The Leopard stars Kim Rossi Stuart as the Prince of Salina, who becomes aware his aristocratic life is threatened by uprisings on the streets of 1860s Sicily. Forced to find new allegiances, he realises the best path forward will break his favorite daughter’s heart. Directed in part by Tom Shankland, with Richard Warlow and Benji Walters as writers, the show is from Italy’s Indiana Production and the UK’s Moonage Pictures.

‘The Seduction‘ / ‘Merteuil’ (Max)
France

Diane Kruger and Anamaria Vartolomei are leading Merteuil, Max’s reimagining of Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’s classic novel ‘Les Liaisons Dangereuses’ (‘Dangerous Liaisons’). Star power alone is enough to demand attention, but the fact it’s Max’s first original out of France adds to the narrative juice. Expect sex, royal courts and smouldering French passion, if the much-loved 1988 film starring Glenn Close, John Malkovich, Michelle Pfeiffer and Keanu Reeves is anything to go by. Outside of France, it will be known as The Seduction, adding to the anticipation.

‘Maxton Hall: The World Between Us’ Season 2 (Prime Video)
Germany

Arguably the most unexpected European TV hit of recent years, Maxton Hall: The World Between Us is a German-produced, UK-set high school drama following Ruby Bell, (Harriet Herbig-Matten), a brilliant young woman aspiring for Oxford University. Winning a scholarship to elite college Maxton Hall, she meets wealthy fellow student James Beaufort is a fellow student and the pair are thrown together after Ruby unwittingly witnesses events that are part of an explosive secret. The UFA Fiction show was Prime Video’s largest-ever international launch on its opening week and quickly renewed for a second run in 2025. Speculation around a third is already fervent.

‘Costiera’ (Prime Video)
Italy

Another out of the production hotbed of Italy, Costiera follows Desperate Housewives and Grey’s Anatomy star Jesse Williams playing a half-Italian former U.S. marine who returns to Italy, the land of his childhood, as a fixer in one of the world’s most luxurious hotels on the spectacular Positano coastline. When one of the owner’s daughters disappears, he is forced into action. It’s gunshots against the beautiful backdrop of sun, sea and sand, and one of Prime Video’s most buzzy 2025 contenders.

‘Heweliusz‘ (Netflix)
Poland

This is a five-parter out of Eastern Europe that has got Netflix’s top brass swimming with anticipation. Heweliusz in inspired by Poland’s most mysterious maritime tragedy, where the ferry Jan Hevelius sank during a fierce storm on January 14, 1993, claiming 55 lives, with only nine survivors. The series dives into the tragedy, while also exploring loss, grief and the struggle for justice. Fall 2025 has been set as a release date, with production continuing under the guidance of High Water makers Jan Holoubek, Kasper Bajon, and Anna Kępińska.

The First Göktürk (Max/BluTV)
Turkey

Turkish drama remains among the hottest on the international market, and The First Göktürk is among the originals Warner Bros Discovery is using to help the rebrand of its BluTV streamer under the international Max brand. Alper Çağlar’s historical fantasy drama about the start of an Asian empire has a hybrid three-act format, beginning with a three-episode arc before a full-length feature follows. A third part will round off the project. Max is promising a “rich, yet undiscovered narrative world, unforgettable characters, and multilingual release, the series and film tell a story of friendship, freedom, and historical struggle.”