Welcome to Global Breakouts, Deadline’s strand in which we shine a spotlight on the TV shows and films that have had an impact in their local territory. The industry is as global, with breakout hits appearing in pockets of the world all the time, and it can be hard to keep track… so we’re going to do the hard work for you.
This week we profile something new; a big-budget Greek period drama that has made waves at home and is now setting sail for the international market. The Great Chimera is an adaptation of the eponymous Greek novel by M. Karagatsis. Greece has a rich storytelling history and a collection of world-renowned filmmakers. It does not, however, have a track record in international high-end TV. The team behind this series hope their epic drama can usher in a new era of global Greek hits.
Name: The Great Chimera
Country: Greece (with Italian coproducer)
Network: ERT (Greece)
Producers: Foss Prods., Boo Prods., Mompracem
For fans of: My Brilliant Friend and sweeping period dramas
Distributor: Beta Film
As the biggest-budget Greek period drama of all time, it is fitting that The Great Chimera filmed at some of the nation’s most iconic locations. Cameras rolled at the Acropolis and Athens’ iconic University Street, shoots that needed the support of the Culture Minister and city mayor. Filming at such iconic spots captures the ambition behind the six-part adaptation of M. Karagatsis’ modern Greek classic. The novel was published in 1953 and is set in the 1930s. It has drawn comparisons with ‘Madame Bovary’ and ‘Anna Karenina.’ It tells the story of a young woman, Marina, trying to escape her past. She falls in love with Yanis, a Greek sea captain, and travels with him to the island of Syros where a love triangle ensues.
The weather gods intervened as the team prepared to shoot at the Acropolis, explains Stelios Cotionis, the CEO of Athens-based Foss Productions, which made the show. “In January 2025, we had our shoot,” he recalls. “It was one of the most rainy and cold days in Athens for years.” But that was a good thing, adds Ferdinand Dohna, EVP, Content at Beta Film, which distributes the series. “Everybody has the Acropolis with sunshine and blue sky, but we had light behind the clouds and it was really very dramatic, and very fitting to the scene.”
Budgeted at €1M ($1.18M) an episode, the drama was a big swing for Foss and Greek TV in general, not least given previous attempts to bring the epic book to screen had stalled. Public broadcaster ERT greenlit the series, but, having optioned the rights from the author’s grandson, Cotionis still needed to find partners to get the production up and running. Beta Film came in for worldwide sales – the show was a key part of its slate at the recent London TV Screenings – and Italy’s Mompracem signed on as a co-production partner, teeing up a Greek-Italian epic.
Greece’s Boo Productions, which had earlier attempted to adapt the novel into a feature, was the other co-pro partner. With the pieces in place, shooting started in late 2024.
“The only liberty”
In the original story Marina is French. In the Vardis Marinakis-directed TV series she switched to Italian as Mompracem got on board. Fotinì Peluso, an Italian actress of Italian and Greek heritage, is the female lead.
“It was the only liberty we took in respect of the novel,” Dohna says. “And we found Trieste as her home of origin, which fitted very well…. in the 30s when the story is set, it was the most important port for commerce with Greece.”
The producers wanted a contemporary take on the novel, Cotionis says. “The setup is in the 1930s, but we wanted the story to be of our time. It’s about the protagonist’s sexuality and freedom and her childhood and sadness, and her taking what she thinks is an opportunity for a better life. It’s something that nowadays is the same, with people wanting to leave their country to find a better future elsewhere. We really were aiming to speak to today’s audience.”
ERT launched the series on its on-demand ERT Flix platform at the start of January. The years of hard work were rewarded by the audience response. “It was one of the biggest launches ever in Greece,” Cotionis explains. “Within a week, we had more than 1M views on the platform and that was great for the first two episodes, it was a huge success. Within five weeks, we had more than four-and-a-half million views.”
Cotionis hopes his series has set a new bar in terms of premium TV from his country. “I don’t know if anyone else will do something else on this scale. Everyone, ERT and the other broadcasters, told me this is something unique that we never saw in Greek TV before.”
Beta is now out there selling the series. Dohna says the German major is excited about the untapped international potential of Greek TV.
He adds: “We are interested in opening new markets or possibilities for new projects, and found Greece was a very interesting creative environment. It is a great destination, and it has a huge storytelling tradition, and so it’s odd that there’s not so much Greek television product traveling. You have the big Greek [movie] directors and Greek films, but in television, it’s not so well known.”
The goal for Beta Film is to rack up sales on The Great Chimera after its local success and help put high-end Greek TV on the map. “I think that this is a new era for Greek TV,” Cotionis says.
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