Amazon Announces Raft of German Original Series, Soccer Programming

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Amazon Prime Video has announced several German original series and a soccer documentary.

The originals include a series adaptation of fantasy classic “The Gryphon,” based on the cult novel of the same name by Wolfgang Hohlbein, Germany‘s most successful living novelist with 40 million books sold worldwide, that follows three outsiders who must deal with a monster. Show runners Erol Yesilkaya and Sebastian Marka are adapting the material into six 45-minute episodes. “The Gryphon” is a production of W&B Television in cooperation with DogHaus Film for Amazon Studios.

Six-part series “Luden” is set in the red light district of Hamburg in the 1970s, and is from Munich production company Neuesuper. The writers’ room includes Niklas Hoffmann, Peter Kocyla, Vivien Hoppe and Rafael Parente, who also acts as producer with Simon Amberger and Korbinian Dufter.

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“Gefesselt” (working title) will be Amazon’s first German true crime series from Germany. Produced by Neue Bioskop, and directed by Florian Schwarz, the six-part series follows the search for a serial killer who terrorized Hamburg between 1986 and 1992, and is due in 2022.

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The documentary series “Unzensiert – Bushido’s Wahrheit” follows the beginnings and rocky rise of the rapper Bushido, while high end series “We Children of Bahnhof Zoo” will stream from Feb. 19.

An as yet untitled documentary that takes a behind the scenes look at soccer team FC Bayern Munich is currently being filmed and will be available exclusively on Prime Video later this year.

The service also confirmed Sebastian Hellmann and Jonas Friedrich as the first presenters for its live broadcasts of the UEFA Champions League soccer tournament.

Amazon also announced a first-look series deal with Ziegler Films and bestselling author Sebastian Fitzek.

Meanwhile, the second season of comedy show “LOL: Last One Laughing” (pictured) will stream from April 1. Host Michael Bully Herbig is gathering ten of Germany’s funniest comedians – Anke Engelke, Barbara Schöneberger, Carolin Kebekus, Max Giermann, Kurt Krömer, Wigald Boning, Torsten Sträter, Rick Kavanian, Mirco Nontschew and Teddy Teclebrhan – who have one common task: not to laugh. The show is a Constantin Entertainment production.

There are also new episodes for original series “Der Beischläfer” and comedy show “Binge Reloaded.” Both formats will receive a second season.

Georgia Brown, director European Amazon originals at Prime Video, said: “We are dedicated to producing a curated slate of ambitious and high-quality German series across genres, and are we are super excited to take those stories to 150 million Prime members around the world.”

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