Apple Is Working on an English Adaptation of This Award-Winning Israeli Thriller

We already know that Apple is pouring a lot of money and resources into its original content projects for its Apple TV+ streaming service — earlier this month we heard that in some cases it’s spending more per episode than the cost of many entire feature films — and considering the kind of company Apple is and where it’s coming from with Apple TV+, it shouldn’t be surprising as there’s a lot at stake here.

Significantly, Apple is going to be the only major streaming service that’s going to be marketing itself based solely on its own original content. While more established competitors like Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hulu also produce a substantial quantity of original content themselves, they also have massive libraries of existing movies and TV shows that consumers can sift through. By comparison, Apple is betting the multi-billion dollar farm that its own content can be compelling enough to not only draw subscribers to pay for its service, but to entice them to keep paying.

It’s an ambitious goal, but Apple has already lined up a solid A-list group of talent behind it, including on-screen stars like Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, Steve Carrell, and Jason Momoa, plus legendary directors and producers like J.J. Abrams, Steven Spielberg, and Oprah Winfrey. However, for Apple to pull this off, it’s not going to be able to slow down for even a second, and it’s undoubtedly working to secure steady streams of new content deals to ensure that there will always be something for subscribers to watch when its fledgling TV service launches this fall.

Untapped Sources

Apple’s also not shy about expanding its horizons beyond the traditional content sources either, and it’s already been observed to be drawing ideas from popular foreign sources. A new report by Deadline reveals the latest example of this, with Apple looking to adapt another popular Israeli drama into the English language.

According to the report, Apple is already working on an English-language version of the Israeli thriller, False Flag, which was originally produced by Keshet International and created by Amit Cohen and Maria Feldman. The original series won several awards and was actually aired on Hulu in the U.S., with subtitles, but Apple of course plans to do more than just carry the Hebrew-language show — it plans to produce its own version of it.

False Flag is actually an anthology series, which makes it well-suited to this type of adaptation, with each season telling its own story. The first season focuses on the lives of five ordinary people who are suddenly implicated in a kidnapping operation after the disappearance of the Iranian Defence Minister.

The second season focuses on a different group of three people who find themselves in a similar situation after an explosion at an inauguration ceremony.

This is actually the second Israeli drama series to be picked up by Apple through a deal with Keshet. Late last year it was revealed that Apple was looking to purchase the rights for Nevelot, a gritty drama about two military veterans who go on a youth-focused killing spree in judgement of the younger generation who don’t understand the sacrifices they’ve made. There were also rumours at the same time that Richard Gere and Warren Leight were being tapped to star in the new Apple-backed version of the series, although no more information has emerged since then.

When rumours of Apple’s foray into original content surfaced two years ago, the company was originally said to be focusing on “family-friendly” material, trying to avoid shows with violent, mature, or risqué themes, both for the sake of its corporate identity but also to create content for the widest possible demographic. However, last year it was reported that Apple’s production executives had been “working overtime to dispel the myth” that Apple was avoiding more hard-hitting material, and was in fact looking for its own version of “Breaking Bad.” Shows like False Flag and Nevelot would certainly fit that bill, and while it looks like Apple won’t be shying away from content for more mature audiences, there’s not yet any evidence that it’s going to go down the road that some of its competitors have taken in gratuitously throwing in violent and risqué material just for the sake of doing so.