Christina Hendricks & Drama Premieres

Drama fans and industry execs descending upon the northern French city of Lille for Series Mania this year can expect stars, politics and premieres. Christina Hendricks will walk the purple carpet, while the spine of the shows in the International Competition skews political this time.

With scores of new series premiering, talent coming to town, and a sizeable industry component, the event will set the stage for the year ahead in scripted TV.

“When I created Series Mania, I was saying that series can reflect our world and Series Mania is where you put them in the light,” founder and General Director Laurence Herszberg tells Deadline, just weeks before the festival commences.

Surveying the International Competition line-up, she addresses the political themes in several series. If it’s a 2025 drama trend, the Series Mania chief is fine with that.

“I studied and am really interested in politics, and Series Mania is a place for artists,” she says. “They have to express their voice. We’re going to have an Israeli show, an Iranian show…and I will always take the side of the artist. It’s by letting them speak, whether it’s difficult or not, that we can address the issues of our world in a different way, rather than only the politicians talking.”

Herszberg highlights competition titles such as: Kabul, a massive pan-European co-production from the New8 alliance of Euro pubcasters; Mussolini: Son Of A Century, Joe Wright’s adaptation of Antonio Scurati’s bestselling novel about the rise of fascism in 1920s Italy; RTS and Arte drama The Deal, set in Geneva and the complex world of high-level diplomacy; and The German, for Israel’s Yes TV and about a man recruited by Mossad to find Nazi war criminals.

Outside of politics, the selection also has Amanda Seyfried-starrer Long Bright River, the Peacock thriller that Max has for France. Meanwhile, Canadian streamer Crave’s Empathy, marks the arrival of Quebecois fiction into the International Competition. 

Intense family drama Querer, out of Spain, and Danish series Generations also play in competition and will have their international premieres in Lille.

Hal & Harper rounds out the International Competition and adds some U.S. indie cred to proceedings, with Cooper Raiff writing, directing, as well as producing alongside producing partner Clementine Quittner via their Small Ideas banner. 

Herszberg senses a shift towards U.S. indies. “I think that we will see more and more American writers and producers trying to produce a show outside the big [studio] scene, we see his trend.”

Premieres & International

The Iranian series Herszberg mentions is At The End Of The Night from Ida Panahandeh and Amiri Arsalan and which “skillfully dissects the separation of a couple.” It is one of nine shows in an International Panorama official selection that also features projects from South Korea (Family Matters) and Brazil (Raul Seixas: Let Me Sing).

Deadline asks the Festival chief whether Series Mania is focused on the highbrow of the drama spectrum. “What you’re saying is true and not true,” the festival boss says. “We have these high-end shows, and we also have very popular shows, everyone is included.”

Speaking to the cozier end of the drama scene, the world premiere of Season 5 of HPI is Series Mania’s closer. The hit TF1 series has been remade as High Potential for ABC in the U.S. and is in the vanguard of the cozy crime shows that are sweeping international TV. Meanwhile, Apple TV+‘s French period drama Carême is set to open the festival this year.

Not cozy crime, but definitely family friendly, the French version of BBC and then CBS comedy hit Ghosts will have its world premiere. The local moniker is Ghosts: Fantômes en Héritage.

Ready For Launch

It’s a post-peak TV world and drama projects are struggling to find funding. With finance harder to come by, shows require more partners and a degree of creativity not just at a craft level, but in terms of the business model.

That industry backdrop is both a plus and a minus for Series Mania. The challenge is that budgets to attend and launch projects at festivals are scrutinized ever more closely. The plus is festivals and events are now more important than ever to spotlight new series in a cluttered market.

Herszberg reports the same number of series were submitted as last year, just north of 400. “When there is this level of [industry] competition, and when you’re going to produce less, you have to invest more in marketing and generating buzz,” she says. “The buzz starts in a festival. That’s why we created the Best Marketing Initiative [award]. The best marketing is to be in a festival.”

Herszberg knows the film festival world well. She previously ran the Paris-based Forum Des Images. Series Mania has brought some of the dynamics – and pizzazz – seen around premieres at film festivals to the TV world. That’s a trick that few other TV events have pulled off.

Hendricks In Town With Small Town

Mad Men and Series Mania have history. Season 2 of the iconic drama was screened in its entirety at the first-ever Series Mania in 2010 and Matthew Weiner delivered a Masterclass on the show in 2015. In-between, Christina Hendricks and John Slattery attended the 2011 Forum Des Image festival. This year will mark a first Series Mania appearance for Christina Hendricks, who will be in town with her new show Small Town, Big Story. The Sky drama, created by Chris O’Dowd, will have its international premiere.

Herszberg says she wants stars to have a unique festival trip to Lille and build a connection with the festival. Several previous big name attendees have gone on to appear in Series Mania’s annual trailer – a full-fledged production, the like of which has never been seen before for a TV event.

“We want those very big artists to have a different experience than the one they have in other festivals. Look at Marcia Cross. She came to Series Mania and was so happy that the year after she accepted the offer to star in the Series Mania trailer, which we based on Desperate Housewives. The same with Brian Cox [who was in the festival trailer as Logan Roy a year earlier]. We want them to have something fresh and intimate.”

Being located in France, Series Mania is run by a mostly French team and the festival has a French Competition in which six series will have a world premiere. But it is firmly an international event. “We have to welcome people from around the world and to say that, culturally, series are a way to embrace the world, to live better together, and to make people understand more.”