The Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, compelled the writers of the thriller television series Fauda to rewrite its entire fifth season, the main protagonist and co-creator of the hit show, Lior Raz, revealed to a local U.S. community in July, in comments publicized in September ahead of the show’s season premiere on Sept. 8.
“We decided that we cannot stick with the original plan,” Raz told an audience in Westport, Conn. on the eve of Tisha B’Av, at an event benefiting American Friends of Magen David Adom and held in partnership with Chabad.
Every season begins the same way, Raz explained. He and co-creator Avi Issacharoff ask themselves a simple question: What is the worst thing that could happen to Israelis?
Years ago, Raz proposed the nightmare he had carried since childhood of terrorists overrunning an Israeli community, taking hostages and negotiating from inside it. Issacharoff, who spent years covering Palestinian affairs before becoming a television writer, dismissed the idea as impossible. They shelved it.
After the Oct. 7, massacre, Issacharoff came back to Raz. “You were right,” he told him. “And reality was much worse than your imagination.”
Raz further related that part of the new season was supposed to be shot in Marseille, France, until the production company there told them it could not guarantee the security of an Israeli crew. The hostility Israelis were encountering abroad, Raz continued, is no longer confined to Europe. “It’s happening here too,” he told the American audience.
Asked whether the rise in antisemitism had surprised him, Raz called it “surprising and sad.” But he said it had also brought a certain clarity. Jews now know who their friends are, and whom they can count on, he said. And in the aftermath of Oct. 7, he has watched Jewish communities around the world draw closer together.
The 11-episode season, which includes French actress Mélanie Laurent, known for the black comedy war film “Inglourious Basterds,” will be available for streaming worldwide via Netflix starting Tuesday.
The newest season of the series was filmed primarily in Israel and Budapest, Hungary, after plans to shoot its European segments in France were changed due to security concerns.
Fauda, which debuted in Israel in 2015, has aired in 190 countries.
