A Christmas film, a crime drama series, a political thriller and thriller series are all coming to Showmax over the course of this year and every single one of those comes from Kenya.
Showmax has been on a bender of late when it comes to creating content for local audiences and so far things are going really well. The Real Housewives series is getting its first Nigerian instalment on 8th April and the upcoming fantasy series Blood Psalms set in “Ancient” Africa looks very intriguing.
What makes the upcoming Showmax Originals from Kenya so interesting is how varied they are in subject matter. This was intentional according to Showmax.
“We have worked with new production houses to expand our genre offering to ensure that our viewers get to see the very best of Kenyan stories told in different facets of life, from thrillers to crime dramas to political thrillers,” explains MultiChoice Channel Director for East and Southern Africa, Timothy Okwaro.
So what are the series we can expect over the course of 2022?
Let’s start with County 49. This political thriller follows the story of the fictional Bwatele County in Kenya which is the nation’s bread basket. The citizens are suffering from a high cost of living despite a wealth of resources.
It’s against this backdrop that County 49 will tell the story of a disgraced security officer compelled to save the life of the Governor, her chief of staff and his estranged wife from a terrorist group. It all sounds very Hollywood blockbuster but we’re looking forward to seeing an African spin on this sort of story.
County 49 is being produced by Kibanda Pictures, made up of Supa Modo and Crime and Justice director Likarion Wainaina, Morning After director Brian Munene and producer Millicent Ogutu, and producer and actor Bruce Makau.
Next up is Igiza which is still currently in production.
This 13-part thriller series follows Linda and Nicole, twin sisters who are at war with each other after a betrayal that “changes their lives forever”.
When one of the sisters breaks out of prison and assumes her twin sister’s identify, disaster ensues. Igiza is helmed by Abdi Shuria known for his works as a cinematographer for 2021’s hit Nafsi and upcoming feature Ayaanle, King Muriuki of the The XYZ Show and Abu Melita under their company Yare Productions. The role of Linda and Nicole will be played by Kalasha Award-winning actress Serah Ndanu (pictured in header).
Then in April production on Pepeta is set to begin.
Pepeta follows three intertwining stories of Junior, a 17-year-old talented footballer torn between the thrills of crime and the promises of football; Musa, an unforgiving cop with a personal vendetta, determined to rid the streets of criminals; and Biki, an ambitious football coach determined to get Junior and his friends scouted before the barrel of the gun cuts short their dreams.
The crime drama series is loosely based on the life of Harun ‘Rio’ Wathari and is being produced by CJ3 Entertainment.
Finally, the as yet untitled Christmas film will be Kenya’s first ever Christmas feature film. The film is set to be produced by Reuben Odanga who produced Selina and Nafsi and written by Natasha Likimani, known for Famous, Sincerely Daisy and Disconnect.
There isn’t much more to go on here, but it does look like Showmax wants to challenge Netflix’s own local Christmas content such as How to Ruin Christmas.
This all looks very interesting and we’re excited to see some great original content on Showmax throughout the course of the year.
