‘Tehran’: the new wave of Israeli drama
Tehran TV poster
Tehran is the latest Israeli hit TV show in the last few years. First, came Shtisel (2013-21), a drama series about an orthodox family living in Jerusalem, which was later shown on Netflix and was followed by a prequel in 2024.
Then came a very different drama series, Fauda (meaning “chaos”), developed by Lior Raz and Avi Issacharoff. It drew on their experiences in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). The show follows the adventures of a special unit of Israeli soldiers trained to operate undercover as Palestinians for intelligence-gathering operations. The first four series were shown between 2014-23 and the fifth series will be shown this year.
One of the main actors, Idan Amedi, who appeared in Seasons 2-4 as Sagi, was severely injured in Gaza on 8 January 2024 while serving as a reservist in the IDF. A blast that was the result of a premature explosion, intended to demolish Hamas tunnels, killed six soldiers and resulted in shrapnel hitting Amedi in his neck and spine. Despite his injuries, Amedi has stated that he hopes to return to Fauda for season 5.
Now comes Tehran, an Israeli spy thriller, which premiered in Israel and internationally on Apple TV in 2020. The second season, starring Glenn Close, was released on 6 May 2022. The third season, with Hugh Laurie as a UN nuclear weapons inspector joining the cast, was released on 9 December 2024 on Israel ITV on Kan 11, and on Apple TV on 9 January 2026. The series has also been renewed for a fourth season. At the 49th International Emmy Awards held in November 2021, Tehran received the award for best drama series, becoming the first Israeli series to win this award.
The series follows a group of Israeli agents going underground in Tehran trying to disable a nuclear reactor. The key figure is Tamar Rabinyan (played by Niv Sultan), a young Jewish woman born in Iran but raised in Israel, who goes undercover and gets involved in various assassination plots in the Iranian capital. She is hunted by Faraz Kamali, head of investigations of the Revolutionary Guards, who is like Inspector Javert in Les Misérables, obsessed with trying to track down Tamar and bring her to be sentenced to death by an Iranian revolutionary court, just as Javert wants to track down Jean Valjean.
Tehran is a captivating thriller, topical, gripping, which brings to life the conflict between Israel and Iran. It managed to anticipate the uprising in Iran over the past few months, with the conflict between young dissidents opposed to the theocratic regime and those who are passionately loyal to the oppressive state. Interestingly, in the first three series there are no references to Iran’s terrorist clients – Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis in Yemen – or to the US. At the centre of the series is the conflict between Israeli intelligence and the Iranian state.
Tehran is also the first hit series made by Israeli TV to feature international stars like Glen Close and Hugh Laurie. A co-production between Apple TV and Israeli public broadcaster KAN 11, “Tehran” is executive produced by Eden and Shula Spiegel for Donna and Shula Productions; Alon Aranya for Paper Plane Productions; Zonder, Syrkin, Omri Shenhar, Saint and Dari Shai Slutzky; and Tal Fraifeld and Ronny Perry for Kan.
On Monday 16th February one of Tehran’s producers, Dana Eden, was found dead in her Athens hotel room, while working on Series 4. According to The Daily Mail, “Police are investigating the cause of her death with an autopsy expected, but Greek news outlets claim there is currently no indication of foul play.”
The co-operation between this new wave of Israeli TV thrillers and American networks like Netflix and Apple have led to a new kind of political drama, two of which are set in Israel and one in Iran. These gripping television series are rapidly winning an international audience on both sides of the Atlantic.
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