First Turkish Superhero Universe Takes Shape With ‘Lost’ Director

Turkey, the second largest distributor of TV content after the U.S., is getting into the superhero game. 

Turkish production company T World Entertainment and Productions has unveiled the country’s first-ever foray into the superhero space with T World, a new universe of diverse and localized heroes and stories that aims to span the international market with two feature films, three television series and plans for video games and books. 

T World will officially launch at MIPTV 2020 in Cannes, with plans to premiere the teaser trailer for its first hero and series release, Altay. 

Bobby Roth — best known for directing episodes of Lost, Prison Break and Grey’s Anatomy — will helm the first episode of Altay, while other characters announced include Water, Nymp, Rumi, Nazar and The Twins. 

“We knew from the get-go that creating a vast superhero universe from the ground up was not going to be easy. A serious investment in research and development, an all-encompassing and ongoing process for us, is necessary to tackle such a large-scale project,” said Bülent Turgut, creative producer and founder of T World Entertainment and Productions.

With Turkey being predominantly Muslim, Turgut added that the characters and mythology of T World would have cultural, rather than religious, roots in Islam.

“So while Islam is part of our culture, the storyline is not exclusively Muslim. We have Russian and Jewish characters as well,” he said. “The richness of our mythology and characters reflects the richness of Turkey and this unique region; we are a melting pot of faiths, cultures and people and we hope to represent that through our universe.”

T World adds a new genre to growing TV boom in Turkey, which has seen its telenovelas — known as “dizi” — become hugely popular internationally, especially in the Middle East, Asia and Latin America. Having ordered its first Turkish drama in 2017, Netflix has been doubling down on its local commissions, recently ordering a new thriller from Berkun Oya, behind the well-traveled international drama format The End. 

Turgut hopes to take T World to Eastern Europe, Western and Central Asia and MENA, while also targeting U.S. platforms such as Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, Apple and European streamers. 

“With our territory’s vast historical infrastructure, our penchant for high-quality production values and unique storytelling style, and our ability to work with talent all over the world, we have a unique competitive advantage to create a world and stories that will resonate with audiences all around the globe,” he said.

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