Netflix signed a deal with Tunisian actress Hend Sabry for an original Arabic drama-comedy series to be released in 2021, the leading Internet entertainment service announced on Monday.

“We are excited to work with Hend Sabry, one of the Arab world’s most iconic actresses, who won the hearts of Arab audiences throughout her career. Hend’s new show is a female-focused story that we are sure fans will connect with,” stated Said Ahmed Sharkawi, director of Arabic Original Series at Netflix.

Cairo-based Sabry, a multi-award winning actress and the first Arab woman to serve as a jury member in the 2019 Venice Film Festival, showed enthusiasm over cooperation with Netflix.

“I am excited to work on a female-focused show with Netflix. I am also thrilled about my first experience as an executive producer and how with Netflix we can create content that features stories from the Arab world and to be seen by the world,”

Sabry will be an executive producer through her company SALAM Production, established in Cairo in 2015, whose first co-production was the awarded Tunisian movie Flower of Aleppo, directed by Ridha Behi.

Netflix has earlier announced contracting +18 popular puppet show star Abla Fahita for a drama series, months after revealing the launch of Paranormal, a Mohamed Hefzy and Amr Salama production, starring Ahmed Amin, based on the best-selling book series in the Arab world by late author Ahmed Khaled Tawfik.

Netflix serves 183 million paid subscribers in over 190 countries with a big collection of TV series, documentaries and feature films across a wide variety of genres and languages.

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