Ilan Sigal, the CEO of yes, the network that created Fauda, announced Monday night that the Israeli counterterrorism drama that became a worldwide sensation would be returning for a fifth season.
Sigal was joined by Fauda’s co-creator, Avi Issacharoff, to announce that season five is already underway. The announcement was made as part of yes's "Bar Series" event, a series of meetings in bars and other venues across the country, with appearances by the people who worked by in front of and behind the cameras on different yes series.
The creation of Fauda
Fauda was created for yes by Issacharoff and Lior Raz, who stars in the series and has acted in many other international movies and television shows since Fauda made its debut in 2015. It tells the story of a retired counterterrorist agent, played by Raz, who is called back to his unit to fight a new cell of terrorists. The first two seasons were set mainly in and around the West Bank, while the third season moved the action to Gaza, and the fourth was set in Europe as well as Israel. Novelist Stephen King, no stranger to suspenseful stories, called Fauda, “All killer, no filler,” after it was picked up by the Netflix streaming service and became an international phenomenon in over 190 countries, regularly showing up as one of the top-rated shows in Arab countries, including Lebanon. It made The New York Times list of the best international series and it was remade in India, with a story set along the Kashmir border.
The series has starred some of Israel’s most popular actors, including Tsahi Halevi, Itzik Cohen, Doron Ben-David, Shadi Mar’i, Idan Amedi, Ala Dakka, Lucy Ayoub, Hisham Suliman, Salim Daw, and Assaf Cohen, as well as international actors such as Laetitia Eido.
Sigal said, "We are proud to announce that the series that the whole world is looking forward to, will return only on yes in a sweeping season that will set a new record for the hysteria that has been surrounding it until today. Let's go, come on Fauda!"
When the new season will be released, where it will be set, and who will star in it are secrets that Issacharoff and his collaborators will guard as closely as the fictional characters hide their intelligence information and attack plans.