International Espionage Drama ‘Extractors’ Is Returning & Will Be Inspired By Another Real-Life Rescue Mission – NEM Dubrovnik

Stewart Clarke
·2-min read

One of the biggest-budget Czech drama series to date is getting a second run, with the focus on another real-life rescue mission.

Extractors follows a Czech team of agents who work in the shadows to bring home people being held captive abroad. Season one was inspired by the real-life case of two Czech women kidnapped in southwest Pakistan and the efforts to secure their release.

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The six-part series was an original for Voyo, the streaming service that is part of the leading Czech commercial network TV Nova. Keshet International swooped for distribution rights and is now taking it to market.

During a session on the spy drama at the NEM Dubrovnik event in Croatia, co-creator and Voyo exec Lenka Szántó revealed the streamer is now working on a second season of the drama. Early scripts are in, she said. It isn’t yet clear which real-life incident the season will use for its inspiration, but Szántó told Deadline it will be a case that made the headlines and Season 2 will see the team of extractors take on missions in Colombia, Libya, and Lebanon.

Szántó said Extractors was Voyo’s top show in 2023 and explained it was based on events that had been making Czech newspaper headlines for years. It was shot on home turf and in Turkey.

“There was a huge public controversy in Czechia because when they came back one of them was still wearing the hijab and some of the public was outraged,” Szántó explained. “We said if we can explain why that happened, we have a story.”

Voyo brought in investigative journalist Jaroslav Kmenta and a real-life spy to act as a consultant and ensure the espionage story closely represented agents’ work in the field. “We’re not playing James Bond or Jason Bourne, our aim was to be authentic,” Szántó said.

Anke Stoll, SVP, Acquisitions and Coproductions at Keshet International, picked up the show for international distribution. “I thought it was a great thriller and a very sensitive portrayal of these two women, and you could see the budget and quality behind it,” she said in the NEM session, which was moderated by Deadline. “It’s a spy thriller but more about showing what people go through and how they react, so there’s a human drama at the heart.”

The show is now on Keshet’s slate. It shared a trailer with buyers at the London Screenings and will continue the sales effort into MIPCOM Cannes and beyond.

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