RUSSIAN PRISONER
NEW RUSSIAN EPIC SAGA
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The new series arrives sometime later this year
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After the insane success of Turkish historical series The Magnificent Century on sultan Suleyman and his wife Hurem, which was feverishly adored in Arabic countries, the Balkans and Eastern Europe, Russia has been trying to create their own historical drama which would repeat similar success, but they weren't overly successful even though their own shows on Catherine the Great, Golden Horde and Boris Godunov had nice ratings. Now they've decided to set one of the new series directly in the dark Ottoman empire and we can expect a lavish new 12 episode
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Ilya Malakov, right, plays the title role of the Russian prisoner
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television series
THE PRISONER (Русский пленник) to arrive to the small screens via Russia's national broadcaster sometime later this year. Beside our
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Serbian actor Ivan Bosiljcic is sultan Mehmed
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dearest
Ilya Malakov (whom you remember from their historical movie
Kolovrat or Furious) in the lead role, the cast also includes actors from Serbia
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Maya Tzetzhladze is sultana Safiya in the new series
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making it a panslavic project. The shooting started back in the summer of 2019 so it was a very long production process. The story is set at the end of the
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Serbian actress Milena Radulovic is Zuleika in the series
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15th and the beginning of the 16th century so beside the infamous Turkish sultan Mehmed the Conqueror (Serbian actor
Ivan Bosiljcic), the series will
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The series will have scenes set in the harem of the Turkish sultan
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also include Russian tzars Fedor Ivanovich (
Vladimir Koshevoi) and Boris Godunov (
Artur Ivanov).
Samvel Tadevosian, controversial Serbian
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Vladimir Koshevoy is Russian tzar Fedor, son of Ivan the Terrible
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actress
Milena Radulovic, Arina Zharkova,
Richard Lepers also star.
Ivan Shurhovetzkiy, who helmed Kolovrat, is also directing this one. A whole city was built in Turkey for the needs of the production.
THE STORY OF THE PRISONER
Alekha (
Ilya Malakov) is an honest, strong, freedom loving Cossack who decided to fulfill his father's last will. As a result, he goes to a foreign land in
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The series was shot in Turkey and Russia in 2019
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order to bow to the Virgin Mary. By the will of fate, he finds himself in the palace of the Sultan Mehmed (Serbian star
Ivan Bosiljcic) of the Ottoman
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Prisoners underwent a very harsh treatment to become Janissaries
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Empire. Here the Russian is taken prisoner and sent to become one of the evil Jannisaries (sultan's elite squads made from the children and prisoners taken
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Alekha will be trying to return to his love in Russia
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from the enslaved regions of the empire). In an instant, not only plans, but also the life of the protagonist goes downhill. The man tries to fight fate, but
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A whole historical city was built for the production of the series
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the circumstances are stronger. As a result, he becomes an Ottoman prisoner who must serve the hated sultan. Here Alekha will face many trials and
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It is expected that the series will be offered to the foreign markets as well
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hardships. But during the whole journey, he does not give up on the feeling that one day he will return home - to his native land. In parallel, he finds the
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Thousands of authentic costumes were made for the series
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love of his life. But even here difficult tests await him. But for a real Cossack there are no barriers when he loves. He is ready to give his life for his beloved,
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Jannisaries in the line in front of the grand vizier of the empire
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because in a true Cossack, love for a woman is equated with love for the Motherland. Check out the annoucement clip below and tell us what you think:
I thought I saw Cam Gigandet in a few of those photos 😜
ReplyDeleteYes, Ilya looks like him in some shots :)
DeleteI've never been a fan of shows or movies set in this time period but I'm sure others will be.
ReplyDeleteIt is our favourite historical setting.
DeleteLike Mary, I am not really a fan, but it would be interesting for many others.
ReplyDeleteI think half of Europe will be watching.
DeleteI have recently discovered Rusian series and I'm in love with them. They are available in USA (with English subtitles) in both TUbi and YouTube, but for my readers in Spanish speaking ountries, where can I find them with Spanish subtitles? You say, "half of Europe will be watching The Prisoner"but does that half include Spain?
ReplyDeleteYes, some of the series are available on YouTube, but I haven't seen any with subs there, which ones did you find? I know that they love their period set detective shows. Russians almost never translate their shows, so it is difficult finding them with subs. I occasionally find some with Serbian subs as we are close with them in tradition so some of our people translate them and put the subs up on some of our sub sites, but some I just watch in Russian, which is one of the languages I speak, although not very well LOL And your Spanish shows are even worse, I still haven't found a torrent with English subs for Plague season 2, for Ines of my soul etc.
DeleteIn YT I found Velikaia with English subtitles and Red Queen. Ohh they also have Anna, the Detective, and yesterday I found (with sub) Love in chains. About Spanish shows, they only add English subtitles if HBO shows them. But now you can't even find them in HBO Latino because they are having different programming for Latin America than the one they show here in USA. Ohh, I tend to go for period pieces, but since you speak Russian, you can find tons in YT in the original: you have Yekaterina (3 seasons), The Optimists, Koroleva Krasoty and Volnaya Gramota. Those are my favorites. Ohh and you must watch Gogol, it's also in Russian in YT. I don't speak Russian, but I got them in Tubi with English subs.
DeleteGogol is too scary for me, although I do love me some Alexandar Petrov. I think new movies from that series are coming in the near future, but I'm not sure. I watched Yekaterina already, but I've never found subs for Velikaya, so I will search for that one on YouTube with English subs. I don't speak Russian well enough to make the watching fully easy without subs .
DeleteYou do right in avoiding “Gogol” It’s freakin scary!
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNkNiL6cyOk&t=37s&ab_channel=MARSMEDIA
Here you can find Velikaya with English subs. It’s called Catherine The Great. It’s 2015, and I love its aesthetics, and Catherine is so nice. Not at all like the character of Marina Alexandrovna in Yekaterina.
Yes, the other series was poorly written and often chaotic but most Russian series are like that. It is still better, though, than that offensive crap The Great at Hulu LOL Thanks for the link.
DeleteI had to read that twice to fully grasp the plot as there appears to be a lot going on, most of which is completely foreign to me. The video didn’t help me either since it was just a slideshow of pictures. Lol Will this air in the US at all?
ReplyDeleteI don't think it will :) Although you can find some of their shows on Amazon or Netflix, and they are very popular there, like Detective Anna for example. Ottomans used to steal the kids from our mothers, take them to Istanbul and raise them there to become bloody butchers jannisaries whom they would then send back to our villages to pillage them, often killing their own parents in the process as they forgot their faces while being brainwashed in Istanbul. It is horrible when you recognise your son's eyes in the eyes of a butcher right before he cuts your throat....
DeleteIt must be epic if they built a whole city to create it!
ReplyDeleteThey often do that when shooting these historical sagas. Magnificent Century, for example, even had five different jewelry shops creating crowns and jewelry for all the sultanas in the series, they worked non stop just to create enough bling for the show.
DeleteIt's just amazing how much money is thrown into projects like these. On one hand, we do love feasting our eyes on lavish scenery, costumes and sets as I think art is needed in our lives, but think of all the good some of that cash could do for the hungry.
DeleteYes, especially in Turkey which really is a hungry country. But they do sell the shows for billions around the world and get their money back into the country.
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