Palme d’Or Winner Cristian Mungiu will produce the thriller, about a group of Romanian hackers who target a German bank.
HBO Europe has greenlit Hackerville, a six-part cyber-crime thriller set in Germany and Romania, as its first international co-production.
Hackerville was created by Ralph Martin and Joerg Winger of German production house UFA Fiction, both writers on Emmy-winning German series Deutschland 83. The plot follows a hacking attack on a German bank, which authorities trace to a network in Romania. A Romanian-born German cop is sent to investigate but has to team up with a distrustful local Romanian investigator and a genius hacker code-named Dark Mole. While there, she’s also confronted with uncomfortable secrets from her family’s past.
HBO Europe will co-produce Hackerville with German network TNT Serie. Cristian Mungiu, the Palme d’Or-winning director of 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days, will produce, together with Tudor Reu, through Mobra Films. Alina David and Silvia Popescu are producers for HBO Europe. Igor Cobileanski, of HBO Europe’s acclaimed Romanian crime drama Umbre, will direct, together with Anca Miruna Lazarescu (That Trip We Took with Dad). The writing team consists of Laurențiu Rusescu, Daniel Sandu, Ralph Martin and Steve Bailie.
Winger, a producer on Deutschland 83 and its upcoming second season, Deutschland 86, will executive produce Hackerville for UFA Fiction, with Johnathan Young exec producing for HBO Europe.
Hackerville will shoot on location in Romania and Germany this spring for a planned fall 2018 premiere on HBO Europe and TNT Serie. HBO Europe will premiere Hackerville across its territories in Central Europe, Scandinavia and Spain. TNT Serie will premiere the series in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Turner International will handle all sales outside of HBO Europe’s territories and the U.S.
This story first appeared in The Hollywood Reporter’s Feb. 16 daily issue at the Berlin Film Festival.