Alex Berger, producer of the original series, discusses the development of this new program, the plot of which would take place on the African continent.
The producer of the hit series The Legends Office announced Tuesday, November 4 to AFP that a project was “in development” to continue the series following in the footsteps of French agents working under false identities, this time on the African continent.
“The working title is ‘Le Bureau Afrique’. We already have several scenarios, but for the moment it remains a project in development,” said Alex Berger in Abidjan, where he is participating in the International Audiovisual Content Show ( Sica).
“France’s historic relationship with West African countries is a good playing field,” he explains.
“France’s geopolitics points more towards Africa, after Françafrique, the events that occurred in Niger, Burkina or Mali, these are things that interest us,” he added in reference to the three Sahelian countries which have experienced putsches in recent years and have turned their backs on France.
Carton international
Canal+ flagship series, The Legends Office followed for five seasons, the last in 2020, the adventures of French agents undercover abroad, in countries such as Iran or Syria in particular. It was worn by Mathieu Kassovitz.
It was sold in more than a hundred countries and was praised for its realism by the DGSE, French intelligence services, where the characters evolve.
“The idea was to be able to leave enough time between the two series, so as not to have a simple sequel. I don’t think it will be a season six… although!”, adds Alex Berger.
The producer refused to give a date for the start of possible filming or the country in which the plot would take place.
In planning for years
“When we started developing the idea in 2021, there were five plausible countries for our history,” he explains, specifying that the list is now reduced after the Sahelian putsches.
“We are in no hurry. The obsession for us is to be plausible and credible,” he added, specifying that we have “three projects which have African countries as their center of gravity”.
Until then, an American remake
The Agencyan American remake of Legends Office in ten episodes, will also be broadcast in the United States at the end of the month.
Michael Fassbender will play Martian, a CIA agent forced to leave his undercover life and return to the London office, whose head is played by Richard Gere.
“It’s fantastically well done, it’s very serious,” said Alex Berger who attended the filming.
