Hulu’s ‘No Man’s Land’ Tackles Love & War in a Conflict-Ridden Syria
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A conflict-ridden Syria serves as the backdrop for this eight-part drama about love and war.
In 2014, young, successful Parisian Antoine (Felix Moati, above) heads to the Middle East desperately seeking news that his sister Anna (Melanie Thierry), seemingly killed by terrorists two years earlier, might be alive. Taking reckless chances, he soon finds himself in the unfriendly hands of a Kurdish women’s militia fighting against the rising Islamic State.
“The female fighters are protecting their territory, and we wanted to explore what it means to be a woman willing to sacrifice her life to fight Isis,” explains cowriter Amit Cohen. “We use Antoine’s journey as an emotional anchor for the audience as he begins to realize the story is bigger than his sister’s.”
Mostly filmed in Morocco and Belgium with actors from 16 countries, No Man’s Land also follows three London friends who joined Isis, and a shadowy operative named Stanley (James Purefoy, The Following). “Though we hope people are inspired to learn more about the region,” says Cohen, “our show is not really about the civil war, but an emotional story of very relatable characters.”
No Man’s Land, Premiere, Wednesday, Nov. 18, Hulu
