Mediapro Studio's The Head to film in Tenerife and Iceland

Spanish outfit Mediapro Studio has revealed that filming of the first series of its English-language survival thriller TV series, The Head, is underway in the Canary Islands, and will then move to Iceland.

“The series will shoot in Tenerife for several weeks, then the plan is to film in the glaciers of Iceland, although an exact location is yet to be decided,” Belen Frias at the Mediapro Studio confirmed to KFTV.com.

Directed by Jorge Dorado, and co-produced with Hulu Japan and HBO Asia, the series is set in Antarctica at the Polaris VI international base. It will follow a small group of international scientists left alone in the remote location when in the middle of winter all communication with the outside world suddenly stops.

The international cast includes Alvaro Morte, Tomohisa Yamashita, Laura Bach, Monica Lopez, Alexandre Willaume and Katharine O’Donnelly.

“After a process lasting two and half years, we at the Mediapro Studio are proud to bring this unique story to the screen”, said Ran Tellem (Homeland), head of international content development at the Mediapro Studio.

The series was created by Alex and David Pastor (The Carriers, Incorporated), Isaac Sastre, and Dorado contributing to its development, which he admits is quite unusual. “Directors normally join in at a much later stage, but it makes it interesting, because this way the story becomes mine too.”

The Head is an example of the direction the Studio wants to head in, with ambitious and complex international projects based on gripping stories, insists Javier Mendez, chief content officer at the Mediapro Studio.

Laura Fernández Espeso, corporate director and co-head of TV at the Mediapro Studio, added: “The Head is the fruit of many months’ labour to meet deadlines when demand for content is huge. Having talent like Jorge Dorado and Àlex and David Pastor working from the beginning to build and shape this project, together with a great international cast and a prominent partner such as Hulu Japan, gives an idea of the magnitude of the project. It is a privilege for the Mediapro Studio to bring this amazing series to the audiovisual market".