Netflix has greenlit a trio of series across Japan, Australia and Taiwan, featuring top talent.
Japanese sitcom “Let’s Get Divorced” follows a rookie politician and his actor wife who struggle with their marriage life and they decide to split up. However, their parents and agents don’t allow them to do it. It is co-written by Japan’s top scriptwriters Kankuro Kudo and Shizuka Oishi and the cast includes Tori Matsuzaka, Riisa Naka, Ryo Nishikido, Yuka Itaya, Koji Yamamoto and Arata Furuta.
The series is directed by Fuminori Kaneko, Ryosuke Fukuda and Takuya Sakaue and the TBS Sparkle production is produced by Aki Isoyama and Itsumi Katsuno with Naomi Satoh executive producing for Netflix. It will bow in 2023.
“Boy Swallows Universe” is an adaptation of bestselling Australian author Trent Dalton’s novel of the same name. “‘Boy Swallows Universe’ is about a boy who receives a message on a red rotary dial telephone in a secret underground room that tells him he must bust into Brisbane’s notorious Boggo Road Prison to save his mum’s life on Christmas Day,” wrote Dalton in a blog post.
The series is written by John Collee (“Hotel Mumbai”) and produced by Brouhaha Entertainment Australia, with Troy Lum (“The Water Diviner”), Andrew Mason (“The Matrix”), Sophie Gardiner (“Chimerica”), Kerry Roberts (“Foe”) and Joel Edgerton (“The Great Gatsby”) serving as executive producers.
From Taiwan, Chinese-language series “Copycat Killer” is an adaptation of bestselling Japanese novel “Mohohan” by Miyabe Miyuki. It follows a serial killer who taps into the media interest over his murders and ruthlessly manipulates their victims, the police and the media like a puppet master, turning the case into a national spectacle.
Produced by Greener Grass Production (Netflix’s “The Victims’ Game”) the series is led by producer Hank Tseng and directors Chang Jung-chi and Chang Heng-ju. The star-studded cast includes Wu Kang-ren, Alice Ko, Tuo Tsung-hua, Yao Chun-yao, Fandy Fan, Cammy Chiang and Hsia Teng-hung, with a guest appearance from Ruby Lin.