Hollywood Reporter:

The world hardly needs more nuclear brinkmanship between Israel and Iran, but that's just the promise from Tehran, a nail-biting Israeli espionage thriller from Netflix's Fauda writer Moshe Zonder.

Fortunately, it's a TV drama without real-world consequences as it portrays a crack Mossad agent hunted in her hometown of Tehran as she finds refuge and romance among dancing and drug-taking secular Iranians. "The real story is what happens to a Mossad agent who goes rogue in Tehran. And you're in for a what-if fun ride. It may be happening right now and we wouldn't know," Tehran executive producer Alon Aranya says of the Israeli thriller shot mostly in Hebrew and Farsi, with English subtitles.

And as Hollywood during the coronavirus crisis shutdown eyes fresh first-run content for summer schedules with likely holes, Julien Leroux, a consultant to Cineflix Rights, sees the eight-parter cutting through Peak TV clutter after earlier Israeli originals Srugim on Amazon, Shtisel on Netflix and False Flag on Hulu found their way into U.S. homes.

"With so many productions in lockdown, streamers and networks are looking for new ready-to-go dramas with international appeal. At the same time, viewers around the world are looking for escape and over-the-edge of their couches excitement, which is exactly what Tehran provides," Leroux tells The Hollywood Reporter.

The high-octane drama, shot on location in Athens before the global industry's production pipeline froze, stars rising Israeli talent Niv Sultan as Tamar Rabinyan, a young Mossad computer hacker sent to Tehran to disable Iran's air defenses so Israeli war planes can bomb a nuclear reactor. After her mission quickly goes wrong, Tamar, amid wild plot lurches, is pursued by Iranian security head Faraz Mehmet, played by Hollywood veteran Shaun Toub (Crash, Snowpiercer). And Homeland alum Navid Negahban plays Tamar's Mossad field commander.

The "X factor" quotient for this Israeli spy thriller is high. Tamar and fellow Israeli Mossad agents, famous in real life for slipping behind enemy lines to destroy targets, disastrously bungle their covert mission, opening the way for an epic cat and mouse game between Sultan and Toub's complex characters.

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