Turkey is getting its first set of superheroes.
Cast has been set on Altay, a series for streaming platform TRT Digital that will kick off plans for a Turkish superhero universe in the mould of Marvel.
The show has gone into production ahead of a 2023 launch, with T World Entertainment attached.
Several high profile Turkish stars have been cast, including Cem Özer, Batuhan Bayar, Aslı Sümen, Beste Kökdemir , Elif Doğan , Cemil Büyükdöğerli, Çetin Sarıkartal, Toprak Sergen and Muhammet Uzuner, who starred in Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Cannes Film Festival Grand Prize-winning movie Once Upon a Time in Anatolia.
Bobby Roth (Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD, Lost, Criminal Minds) is Supervisor Director on the project.
Altay is being billed as the first superhero series and universe from Turkey, inspired by the golden age of Eastern science. Using the Marvel and DC bluepring, the plan is to expand the universe with future series, though these will be inspired different cultures and will be set in a variety of countries.
Altay will follow 35 mortal superheroes who use the latest technology and ancient wisdom to overcome global challenges such as environmental disasters and wars, and battle with a cast of villains in the universe.
In 2023, the universe Altay inhabits, known as the T World Cinematic Universe, will comprise of four seasons and 26 episodes, with each available on the TRT Digital platform.
Raif İnan and Bülent Turgut, producers at T World Entertainment, said: “Ancient Oriental culture and wisdom have not been adequately represented in the cinematic industry. We believe there is more to one of the most prominent civilizations in the world and this was the inspiration for us while designing the T World Universe.
“The in-depth knowledge of mathematics, algebra, geometry; along with groundbreaking developments in physics and astronomy in the Middle East and its vicinity was the foundation for the prevailing Oriental culture. There has been a gap in the global heritage for such an era of enlightenment and our conceptual perspective aims to deliver this.”
Inan and fellow producers Bülent Turgut and Erdal Bozkuş created T World Cinematic Universe, and plan to expand it into a range of series, movies, games and comics “to rival other hugely popular superhero franchises.”
The universe concept and characters have been designed by Bülent Turgut and Halid Şimşek, and its directors are Kerem Cakiroglu and Hamit Coskun. Dusan Hyska (Spider-Man, Titanic) directed Altay.
