‘Red Skies’: Big-Ticket Israeli Drama From ‘Euphoria’ And ‘Shtisel’ Execs Lands Second Season Before First Run Launch

Jesse Whittock
·3 min read
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EXCLUSIVE: Red Skies, the Israeli drama that counts Euphoria and Shtisel execs behind it, has landed a renewal a month before the first season has launched.

Reshet 13 has made the bold move for an eight-part Season 2, with the first set to debut in mid-June. The series, which has backing from Len Blavatnik’s Access Entertainment, has been building momentum over recent months and had its world premiere in International Competition at Series Mania in March.

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Red Skies is based on a best-selling novel from former Israeli Intelligence Officer Daniel Shinar and is set during the bloody Second Intifada period of 2000-2005, exploring events such as Israel’s Operation Defensive Shield in 2002. It follows the Israel-Palestine conflict through the eyes of two friends who are forced to choose sides and stars Maor Schweitzer (Valley of Tears), Amir Khoury (Fauda), Annie Shapero, Lihi Kornowski (Losing Alice), Alona Sa’ar, and Yaakov Zada Daniel (Fauda).

“Red Skies tells a gripping story, leaving the viewer totally immersed from the first moment. We at Reshet 13 are fully confident in the success of the show and its creators which is why we’ve green lighted an additional season,” said Reshet Deputy CEO Meir Kotler.

Co-creator Ron Leshem said the show was “now acknowledged as the biggest drama ever to be produced by an Israeli network” and added Shinar was “becoming ‘the Tom Clancy of Israel.'”

Shinar is the series co-creator alongside Leshem (Euphoria, No Man’s Land), Daniel Amsel (Euphoria, HBO+ Valley of Tears), Amit Cohen (Hulu’s No Man’s Land, Fox and Canal+ False Flag) and director Alon Zingman (Netflix’s Shtisel). Producer is Yoav Gross (Carthago, Manayek) and Len Blavatnik and Danny Cohen of Access Entertainment are Executive Producers. Yoav Gross Productions is the producer alongside Red82 and Nebo Content

“Red Skies is a captivating story, brought to life by a brilliant cast and crew, which embodies the type of premium-quality production Access Entertainment is proud to invest in,” said Cohen, the President of Access Entertainment and former content boss at the BBC. “We are delighted the show, which tells a story of love and loss on both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, has been greenlit for a second season.”

“Alongside Arab and Jewish filmmakers and cast, we are bringing to screen, for the first time, the secret work of Israel’s SIGINT unit, as well as the unique story of a medical student from Jerusalem who turns into a militia leader,” said Leshem.

“I could not be prouder than to making this announcement today. From the outset, the team and I wanted to create and produce a series unraveling the extraordinary story of friendship, love and conflicting loyalties, but that would also bring the Second Intifada to the screen for the first time, an issue even more relevant today, making the show a unique event series.”

In March, we reported on Leshem’s latest series, Bad Boy, which has Peter Chernin’s North Road Company signed on for its first international co-production. Euphoria backers Hot and Tidy Productions are also attached to Leshem and Bosch director Hagar Ben-Asher’s drama.

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