Editorial Staff
Popular martial-arts movie series “Undisputed” – which kicked off in 2002 and has featured the likes of Ving Rhames, Wesley Snipes, Michael Jai White and Scott Adkins – is coming to TV.
Millennium and Empire Films, along with Isaac Florentine, director of the previous three films in the movie series, have set up a TV series adaptation, set to film in 2020 in Bulgaria.
The series, to be executive produced by Yaiv Lerner (“Rambo”), will follow the characters introduced in the film series- most notably, Yuri Boyka (Scott Adkins in the films), a Russian prison fighter on parole who seizes the opportunity to participate in the world’s biggest and most prestigious underground fighting tournament. Exposing the lucrative and intricate underbelly of fighting rings, Undisputed will reveal the microcosm of an expansionist international crime organization and connects everyone in it; those who participate in it, organize it, protect it, investigate it and collect the money. This is a world where every action has consequences.
Rouslan Ovtcharoff, Benjamin Jackendoff, Sean O’Kelly and Marc Bikindou will also be part of the producer’s committee on the project.
“There’s been a tremendous amount of buzz and presales interest around Undisputed the TV series, with buyers quick to recognize its broad commercial appeal,” said O’Kelly, founder of Empire. “As one of the most original and talented directors working today, Isaac Florentine will be sure to deliver the same riveting, high-octane action experience that Undisputed fans around the world have come to love and expect.”
Action-movie vet Florentine believes the TV series is a way to introduce the world of “Undisputed” up to a bigger audience.
“I am hoping that the mainstream American audience will finally discover the character of Yuri Boyka and like him the way he’s adored in the rest of the world”.
Via ‘The Hollywood Reporter‘
