The Dutch children’s classic, The Letter for the King, is being made into an English-language Netflix series. The first images of the show have now been released.
The Letter for the King or De brief voor de koning, as it’s called in Dutch, is a book written by Dutch writer Tonke Dragt. It was originally published in 1962 and became an instant hit, and to date has sold over one million copies worldwide. The book has been published in 13 different languages and as of 2018, is on its fiftieth print edition. It was also chosen as the best Dutch children’s book for the second half of the twentieth century.
The story follows a squire called Tiuri, who hopes to become a knight, however, on the eve of his ascension to knighthood, he breaks tradition and opens the door to a wounded stranger. The stranger hands him a letter and Tiuri embarks on an epic adventure to take the letter to the king.
The book was originally made into a Dutch-language film back in 2008, however, it only brought in 2,8 million dollars at the box office, against a budget of 7,5 million euros and has a rating of 5,8 on IMDB. It did, however, win Best Film at the thirteenth International Film Festival for Children and Young Audience, as well as the Golden Film, awarded by the Netherlands Film Festival and the Netherlands Film Fund for selling 100.000 cinema tickets.
Tonke Dragt, at the time of shooting the film, said that “too many storylines had been brought in” to the film but she had to let go of the book and accept the film was only “based on” her work. The producer of the Netflix series, Paul Trijbits, said in an interview that Dragt has been very “interested and involved” in the upcoming series.
The fantasy genre is currently enjoying huge popularity, which is no doubt what Netflix wants to capitalise on with this series. British actor, Amir Wilson, known for his role in the TV series “His Dark Materials,” based on the books by Philip Pullman, will play the role of Tiuri. Dutch actors Yorick van Wageningen and Gijs Blom also join the international cast.
Filming took place in Prague and New Zealand. The first season will feature six episodes and will be available to watch in 190 different countries around the world. While no official release date has been announced, the show is expected to be broadcast in the spring of this year.
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