Netflix Orders Big-Budget Drama Docuseries From Jane Root’s Nutopia

EXCLUSIVE: Netflix has ordered a big-budget historical drama docuseries from Jane Root’s Nutopia as a new structure for its original series begins to emerge.

The SVOD service has commissioned six-part The Last Czars, about the fall of the Romanov dynasty in Russia, from The Story Of Us producer.

The series has been tagged as a Netflix Alternative commission, emerging from its fledgling non-scripted series division, overseen by executives including Nat Grouille and Brandon Riegg, who greenlit the show.

The move is understood to differentiate shows from the non-scripted side of the business to its high-end drama and comedy series, such as The Crown and Stranger Things, which form part of its Netflix Originals strand.

The Last Czars follows the fall of the Russian Imperial Romanov family, run by Tsar Nicholas II, who were killed in 1918 following the February Revolution. It will be a mix of documentary and reconstruction.

It is the latest high-end drama docu produced by Root’s Nutopia, which the former Discovery Channel chief and BBC2 controller established in 2008. The U.S.-UK production company is best known for producing The Story Of Us strand, which included America Story Of Us and Mankind The Story Of All Of Us, which both aired on U.S. cable network History, as well as Sky Atlantic’s The British.

The company recently produced One Strange Rock, with Darren Aronofsky, for Nat Geo and is making the multimillion-pound history series Civilisations for the BBC.

The Last Czars, which is expected to air in 2018, is the company’s second major Netflix commission, coming after it secured 12-part documentary series Babies.