Trailer for Hungarian Game of Thrones reminiscent series is finally out

On Tuesday, 18 March the first trailer for the new Hungarian series, Hunyadi (Rise of the Raven) has been released. The first pictures of the project were revealed in Cannes, at the prestigious MIPTV conference.

This is a series with the highest budget to date in Hungarian television history. According to Golden Globe winner Hungarian-Canadian executive producer, Robert Lantos, a historical production of this caliber in a non-English language is unprecedented all over the world, wrote HVG.

“It’s going to be like Game of Thrones, just without dragons”

– Lantos revealed.

Making of the series

The 10-part production revolves around the life of a well-known Hungarian historical figure, János Hunyadi. Based on the novel series written by Mór Bán,  the show has been in preparation for more than 10 years. Besides Lantos, Austrian Emmy award winners Robert Donhelm, Orsi Nagypál and Atilla Szász also act as co-producers for several episodes.

Hunyadi is going to premiere in the autumn of 2024. Apart from the Hungarian television channel TV2, Slovenia also received broadcasting rights. In Austria, we will find it on the channel ORF TV. The first 8 installments will be on TV, while the last 2 will be put together to make a full-feature movie and shown in cinemas, before returning to home screens.

International cast

To be as historically accurate as possible, the producers decided to go with a mixed national cast. Most characters are portrayed by Hungarian actors such as Gellért Kádár and Vivien Rujden. They will portray János Hunyadi and his wife, Erzsébet Szilágyi. Other notable national artists include Ernő Fekete, Balázs Medveczky or Franciska Törőcsi.

However, foreign actors will also appear on the cast list, from countries such as Austria, Czechia, Serbia and Italy. To name a few: Francesco Acquaroli, Giancarlo Giannini, Karel Roden, Laurence Rupp, Murathan Muslu, Rade Serbedzija and Thomas Trabacchi.

The cast of the series:

According to Lantos, most scenes will be in Hungarian. However, when people of different ethnicities appear on screen, they are going to talk in their own national tongue. The project will portray the life of János Hunyadi from his childhood. Now the entire world will know why the bell rings at noon, he added.

“We will put subtitles where we need them. In some countries, we will resort to dubbing. We are creating this series for the whole world, not just for Hungary. It has to be able to compete with productions that the whole world can watch”

– he said.

Hungarian picture productions based on historical figures are apparently on the rise. Just a few months ago Hadik was released to cinemas as well, which tells the story of Count András Hadik de Futak, Field Marshal of the Imperial Army in the 18th century. Hungary is also a favourite shooting location for other historical productions as well, such as the Netflix series The Last Kingdom.