After the success of TV sensation The Beach and Berlinale 2024 entry Arcadia, Beta Film and Athens-based Foss Productions continue their collaboration and bring for the first time one of the most important modern Greek novels to the screen: The Great Chimera. Adapted into a six-hour drama series, shooting has started on the Greek Island of Syros under the helm of director Vardis Marinakis (Silent Road, Zizotek, Black Field), before moving to Greece’s capital Athens as well as Trieste in Italy.

As CEETV reported back in 2023, the series was commissioned by ERT which covers 30% of the production budget whose total cost is expected to exceed 4.5 million euros.

The cast is led by Italy’s rising star Fotinì Peluso (Netflix’s Everything Calls for Salvation, Greek Salad), who stars as the restless, young Italian beauty Marina. Fascinated by classical Greek culture, she falls in love with the Greek ship owner Yannis, played by Andreas Konstantinou (Milky Way, Cloudy Sunday), and quickly joins him to start a new life on the idyllic island of Syros. Although she leaves her past behind, she cannot escape her inner strife, which grows stronger with time.

Caught between cultures and social expectations, Marina struggles to balance her passion and desires. Soon, she gives in to her love for her husband's brother Minas, played by Dimitris Kitsos (The Beach, Netflix’s Maestro), and finds herself trapped in her very own Greek tragedy. Giorgos Valsamis (American Girl, Milky Way) serves as DOP, Panagiotis Iosifelis (The Beach) is responsible for the scripts.

Set in the 1930s, The Great Chimera by M. Karagatsis stands alongside modern classics, such as Madame Bovary by G. Flaubert and Wuthering Heights by E. Brontë. This Greek modern tragedy explores the complex psychological life of its female protagonist, who seeks more than the traditional role expected of women. Navigating her way to find her place in the world, The Great Chimera’s Marina becomes torn between her personal desires, devotion, and identity, and the conflicting constraints of society. In Greek mythology, the chimera is described as a monstrous hybrid creature, symbolically interpretated as a mixture of different identities, and relates to conflict, chaos, and overcoming monstrous threat.