Netflix has swooped on “Vortex,” the event drama-fantasy series which recently launched on France Televisions and garnered stellar ratings. The limited series will be available on Netflix in 190 countries starting June 2.
The mini-series was produced by Quad Drama, the banner behind “Women at War” and “The Bonfire of Destiny” — a pair of highly successful shows which were jointly commissioned by Netflix and TF1.
Set in 2025, the show stars Sisley as Ludovic, the police captain in the French city of Brest who lost the love of his life, Melanie, 27 years prior in a tragic accident.
But while studying a reconstructed VR crime scene, he stumbles upon a time warp that turns his life upside down: thanks to a glitch, he’s able to communicate with Mélanie, just a few days before her death, in 1998. Trying desperately to save her from her tragic fate, Ludovic risk losing his own life in the present along with his wife Parvana and their son Sam.
A massive hit on France 2, the flagship linear channel, “Vortex” pulled a 21.3% audience share and was watched by 4.3 million viewers, giving France 2 its best score in this slot since September.
“Science fiction requires rare writing and directing qualities. Vortex brings together all these qualities and it is a source of pride for France Télévisions to be able to offer a series of this ambition another life on Netflix,” said Julia Schulte, SVP of international sales at France tv distribution.
The deal also marks France Televisions’ increasing will to collaborate with streamers, including Netflix, on ambitious shows. Iris Bucher and Roman Turlure, producers at Quad Drama, said the series was “at the crossroads of genres,” and are looking forward to bringing it “here and abroad on the whirlwind of a space-time journey, and on the rollercoaster of emotion, that of the unsolvable love dilemma.”
