Mathieu Kassovitz Exits ‘Paris Has Fallen’ TV Series; StudioCanal Releases First-Look Images

EXCLUSIVE: Mathieu Kassovitz has quit the Paris Has Fallen television series citing creative differences. He has been replaced by Spiral actor Tewfik Jallab.

Deadline can reveal the casting switch as StudioCanal has released first-look images from the series, which is based on Gerard Butler‘s Has Fallen film franchise and is shooting in London and Paris.

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The eight-part drama is made by StudioCanal, War of the Worlds producer Urban Myth Films, and two companies behind the film franchise: Millennium Media and Butler’s G-Base. Eclectic Pictures is also attached.

Kassovitz, best known for his 1995 film La Haine, is recovering from a motorbike accident last month, though his departure from Paris Has Fallen was for creative reasons. In his place, Jallab will play Vincent Taleb, a protection officer to a French Minister, who is the target of a terror group led by villain Jacob.

Vincent works with MI6 operative Zara (Ritu Arya) to keep the politician safe, but they eventually unravel a wider plot, suspecting that a security service colleague is feeding information to Jacob, who is always a step ahead in his mission to bring down Paris.

Other cast includes Sean Harris (Mission Impossible: Fallout), Ana Ularu (Emerald City), Camille Rutherford (Blue Is The Warmest Colour), Jérémie Covillault (Tell No One), Emmanuelle Bercot (My King), and Karl Collins (Attack The Block).

Butler, who plays all-action U.S. Secret Service agent Mike Banning in the film franchise, is not officially attached to star in the TV adaptation. Butler and the producers of Olympus Has Fallen this week settled the actor’s lawsuit for $10 million in profits from the 2013 movie.

Johnny Capps, Julian Murphy, and Overman will produce Paris Has Fallen for Urban Myth, which is owned by StudioCanal. Overseeing for G-Base is Butler and Alan Siegel; for Millenium Avi Lerner, Jeffrey Greenstein, Jonathan Yunger, and Yariv Lerner; and Heidi Jo Markel from Eclectic Pictures. Lati Grobman is also an Executive Producer.

Overman wrote the series. Oded Ruskin (No Man’s Land) is the lead director alongside Hans Herbots (The Serpent). Ruskin also has an Executive Producer credit.

Paris Is Fallen is set up at Canal+ in France; ZDF in Germany; Canal+ International in Poland and Africa; and M7 in Romania, Hungary, Czech Republic, and Slovakia. StudioCanal is shopping the eight-part series to U.S. and UK buyers.

There have been three Has Fallen films — Olympus Has Fallen (2013), London Has Fallen (2016), and Angel Has Fallen (2019) — and a fourth, Night Has Fallen, remains in the works. The first three films have grossed more than $500M worldwide

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