‘When Heroes Fly’ getting US adaptation

Keshet’s hit series won top prize at Canneseries earlier this year

By AMY SPIRO
A POSTER FOR ‘ When Heroes Fly.’ (photo credit: NITAI NETZER)
A POSTER FOR ‘ When Heroes Fly.’
(photo credit: NITAI NETZER)
When Heroes Fly, Israel’s latest hit drama and the winner of this year’s Canneseries top prize, is being adapted into English for US audiences.
According to an exclusive report in Variety, Keshet International, the global arm of Keshet, which produced the original show, will be developing the American version.
When Heroes Fly, which premiered here last month, was awarded Best Series in April at the inaugural Canneseries TV festival in France. The show – based in part on the book by the same name by the late Amir Guttfreund – follows four friends who made it home from the Second Lebanon War with physical and emotional scars. Ten years after the war, they reunite to track down Yaeli – the sister of one and the ex-girlfriend of another – who they all believe had been killed in an accident in Colombia.
The show – created and directed by Omri Givon – has become a critical and ratings hit in Israel in the short month since it has hit the airwaves.
The premiere garnered 16.9% of viewing households, close to half a million people, and it has peaked at 18.9%, a very high rating for a scripted series in Israel.
The show has also gained praise from critics, many of whom applauded the show for its frank depiction of post-traumatic stress disorder among army veterans.
According to Variety, in addition to an English-language adaptation of When Heroes Fly, Keshet is also shopping a subtitled version of the original to various platforms.