Fremantle has acquired worldwide rights, excluding German-speaking territories, to Constantin Film’s fantasy drama Hagen (working title) that is being made as both a feature and a six-part TV series.
It shot last year at Barrandov Studios in the Czech Republic and on location in Iceland.
The RTL group, also Fremantle’s parent company, holds German streaming and free TV rights.
Hagen is based on Wolfgang Hohlbein’s novel Hagen von Tronje and is styled as a reimagining of the medieval Nibelungen folk saga. The story is widely considered to be one of the inspirations behind J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord Of The Rings.
The epic adventure centres on the titular soldier and commander who is dedicated to his king but harbours a forbidden, secret love for Princess Kriemhild. Hagen’s world is turned upside down when the Huns threaten to invade and Siegfried the legendary dragon slayer arrives unexpectedly. Together with Siegfried, Hagen must help the king in his desire to marry the famous Valkyrie queen Brunhild and strengthen the realm.
Cyrill Boss and Philipp Stennert, who collaborated on the Sky series Pagan Peak aka Der Pass, are co-directing from a script they co-wrote with Doron Wisotzky.
Gijs Naber stars, alongside Jannis Niewöhner, Lilja van der Zwaag, Rosalinde Mynster, Dominic Marcus Singer,Jördis Triebel and Jörg Hartmann.
The producers are Jan Ehlert, Christoph Müller and Christian Rohde with Filip Hering as Czech co-producer.
Constantin Film executive chairman Martin Moszkowicz and deputy chairman Oliver Berben serve as executive producers. Thomas Disch and Nico Grein assume editorial responsibility on behalf of RTL under the direction of Hauke Bartel, head of fiction, RTL Germany.
The feature is backed by Filmförderungsanstalt, FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, with support from the Czech Film Fund, German Federal Film Fund, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg and the government of Iceland, ministry of culture and business affairs.
Backers for the series are the Czech Film Fund, Creative Europe – Media Programme of the European Union, FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, German Motion Picture Fund, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg and government of Iceland, ministry of culture and business affairs.
Fremantle handled global distribution for Constantin Television and Amazon Studios co-production We Children From Bahnhof Zoo in 2021.