Fans of Fauda, the political thriller about an Arabic-speaking undercover unit in the Israeli army, will not have to wait much longer to watch the third season.
Its creator Avi Issacharoff, speaking to the JC ahead of a visit to London, promised “more of the same” action they love, along with “some things that are different”.
He said the new series will take viewers into Gaza, where the stories will strike a balance between “fiction and what is happening in real life” in Israel.
Characters will explore the tunnels used by Hamas for both smuggling and attacking Israel in order to get to “the head of the Hamas military wing in the strip,” he said.
Meanwhile, lead character Doron will go undercover as a boxing coach in Hebron in order to get close to a senior Hamas figure living there.
The next series of the show, which tells the story of a fictional unit that working undercover in the West Bank to track wanted terrorists, is expected to be released on Netflix later this year.
The show has been heralded for striking a cord with both Israeli and Palestinian audiences, something Mr Issacharoff put down to the fact they “don’t do what other shows do and make you feel comfortable.”
“It is meant to be ugly, you are not meant to like any of the characters and it is tough. It is not pleasant viewing,” he said.
Mr Issacharoff, who will be in London on to speak at an event for Tel Aviv University Trust on April, 2, said he never set out to create the series.
It was only when the journalist met co-creator Lior Raz that he found an ideal working partner. Other collaborations for Netflix are in the works.
He said current events in Israel often inspire ideas for the series, but what is even “weirder is when the things we write about in the show happen in real life. That has happened to the team and it is very strange.”
He said he “wished” the show acted as an educational tool for people who wanted to “open their mind” and get a better understanding of the conflict, but “mostly people treat it as it is intended, which is entertainment.”
He said it was important for the series to retain its “authenticity” particularly in the way characters speak in both Hebrew and Arabic.
“To understand the conflict you have to listen to both sides of it in their own language,” he said.
