Hulu has acquired the hit Israeli vampire series “Juda” from Banijay. The eight-part series was originally produced by the Israeli company United Studios for HOT. It will premiere in U.S. on Hulu early this year. Separately, Banijay has sealed a deal with an as yet unidentified U.S. studio for the remake rights.
Written by and starring Zion Baruch, the series is set in the criminal underworld and tells the story of Juda, a low-life gambler who borrows money from the French mafia for a seat at a high-stakes Romanian poker game and wins big. But he ends up being robbed and bitten by a seductive vampire, who winds up on her own path to mortality because she has unwittingly broken a rule of her ancestors by drinking Jewish blood.
“With Hulu as our U.S. broadcast partners for this much-buzzed-about, genre-busting show, we will have a prestigious and accessible platform for American audiences to discover one of the most original series of recent times, melding classic sci-fi, horror and noir elements into a wildly entertaining hybrid,” said Andreas Lemos, vice president of North America sales and acquisitions for Banijay Rights, the international distribution division of Paris-based media giant Banijay Group.
Lemos said that having sold the U.S. remake rights was “also a clear indicator that this is truly exceptional scripted IP.”
Nadav Hanin, HOT’s VP of content, said the deal underscored the fact that “excellent content truly has no borders.”
“It is HOT’s prime agenda to be the home of Israeli original content and to be an essential element in the development of the Israeli television industry,” Hanin said.
