Hot Picks: Infiniti

French-originated drama has made great strides in the past 18 months, with producers observing that commissioners are taking more risks to attract and keep audiences. While this strategy has started trickling down to public broadcasters, pay-TV giant Canal+ has been blazing a trail with ambitious scripted shows for some time.

From sweeping period series such as Marie Antoinette to gangster drug thriller ZeroZeroZero, and reboots of 1960s spaghetti western Django and sci-fi dystopia War Of The Worlds, the Vivendi-owned firm is exploring the full breadth of high-end drama.

One of its latest ‘création originales’, multi-language Infiniti, is possibly its most ambitious yet. Set between the plains of Kazakhstan and outer space, the Russian-, French- and English-language drama aims to weave together a sci-fi crime thriller with political intrigue and a love story, against the backdrop of the current global space race.

The International Space Station (ISS) has gone silent, indicating that the crew is in distress. In Kazakhstan, cop Isaak Turgun discovers a decapitated body covered in wax. The victim is confirmed by DNA as American astronaut and ISS crew member Anthony Kurz. However, simultaneously, French astronaut Anna Zarathi, who has been in a relationship with Kurz, is convinced he is calling her for help from the ISS.

As Isaak and Anna team up, their unofficial investigations uncover an unbelievable possibility that Kurz may be in both places at the same time.

Infiniti is co-produced by Federation Entertainment’s Belgium arm and Paris-based Empreinte Digitale, which has produced Netflix horror Marianne, sci-fi space drama Missions and upcoming Disney+ sci-fi mystery original Parallèles.

Thierry Poiraud, who directed Netflix’s Black Spot, is helming the series and is part of the writing team with Les Ombres Rouges’ Stéphane Pannetier and Julien Vanlerenberghe. 

Beatriz Campos, senior vice-president of global sales and production financing at StudioCanal, says the distributor was taken by the “uniqueness and originality” of the plot, and dismisses suggestions that the sci-fi setting might put off mainstream buyers.

“The main focus, and what will keep viewers hooked, is the thriller and crime part of the narrative,” she says. “The sci-fi elements are there only to support a story that has never been portrayed before. The chemistry between the main protagonists and the extraordinary landscapes are reminiscent of earlier successful series like True Detective.”

Campos also points to Infiniti’s outlier status compared with some of StudioCanal’s other high-profile titles (Ridley Road, ZeroZeroZero, Finding Alice) as an indicator of the distributor’s creative-led approach.

“They are all completely different. This diversity has always been StudioCanal’s aim - to find stories that are being told in a different way; plots that have never been explored from a particular point of view,” she adds.

“Infiniti is one of the best scripts we have been lucky enough to read – the writing is just phenomenal. The combination of such a strong story with the talent attached meant it was a no-brainer that this series would sit very well in our line-up.”