Multi-territory Asian streaming service Viu and pay-TV leader HBO Asia have given a green light to the second season of “The Bridge,” their regional adaptation of Endemol Shine’s Swedish drama series.
Viu is also expanding its slate of originals with Thailand’s “My Bubble Tea.”
A 10-episode second season of “The Bridge,” will begin shooting this year through production partner Double Vision. It will be simulcast on Viu and HBO Asia’s channels and services HBO, HBO Go and HBO On Demand, across 24 territories, from early 2020.
Loosely based on the second season of the original series, season two will pick up one year after where the story ended in season one. A yacht registered in Singapore drifts ashore in Johor with a deceased Indonesian family on board. Investigating the slew of serial killings that ensue, the characters become mired in a web of treachery, deceit and personal tragedy.
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The original “Bridge” was created and written by Hans Rosenfeldt as a joint production of Sweden’s Filmlance International, part of Endemol Shine Group and Denmark’s Nimbus Film.
“ ‘The Bridge’ has been a stellar example of knitting together the nuances – culturally, creatively and commercially to produce a drama that has worked in a diverse region. The commissioning of the second season reinforces our belief in the potential of scripted formats in Asia and we hope this will pave the way for many more co-productions,” said Rashmi Bajpai, executive director Asia of Endemol Shine International.
- Separately, Viu has also greenlighted production of My Bubble Tea, a 13-episode romantic comedy to be made in Thailand, which will air in the first quarter of 2020. It will bring together the Korean and Thai pop culture waves with the casting of Nichkhun Horvejkul, a member of Korean boy band 2PM, and Mean Phiravich, who broke through with Love by Chance, which aired on GMM25. The show will be directed by Thammarong Sermrittirong, a director of Thai TV series The Gifted.
The comedy is based on a novel from Fictionlog, a leading user-generated content platform in Thailand. The storyline features a woman who falls for her handsome boss, and so concocts a supernatural bubble tea brew to win his love. In a bitter twist, a man she despises accidentally drinks the tea and falls head over heels for her.