First Netflix Original Series in Africa to star South African actress Pearl Thusi

South Africa, December 10, 2018 - Netflix, the world's leading entertainment streaming service, continues its investment in international content with the announcement of its first Original series in Africa, with South African series Queen Sono.

The action-packed series follows Queen Sono, the highly trained top spy in a South African agency whose purpose is to better the lives of African citizens. While taking on her most dangerous mission yet, she must also face changing relationships in her personal life. The series will be created by Director, Kagiso Lediga and Executive producer Tamsin Andersson.

South African actress, Pearl Thusi, will star as Queen Sono, with the character having been created with her in mind. Thusi is also known for her performance in the romantic dramedy, Catching Feelings, available on Netflix.

"We are excited to be working with Kagiso and Pearl, to bring the story of Queen Sono to life, and we expect it to be embraced by our South African users and global audiences alike." said Erik Barmack, Vice President of International Original Series at Netflix.

"We are delighted to create this original series with Netflix, and are super excited by their undeniable ability to take this homegrown South African story to a global audience. We believe Queen Sono will kick the door open for more awesome stories from this part of the world" added the director and executive producer of the series, Kagiso Lediga.

The series is due to start production in 2019.

About Diprente

Established in 2009, Diprente is a Johannesburg-based production company whose work spans motion pictures, live action television series and animated kids content. Diprente has produced hit South African shows including the twice International Emmy nominated Late Nite News with Loyiso Gola, the Netflix Original, Catching Feelings and animation series Junk Pilots , which recently won the Disney award for best new global television series at the 2018 Annecy International Animation Film Festival. Diprente is headed up by Tamsin Andersson, Kagiso Lediga and Isaac Mogajane.

About Netflix

Netflix is the world's leading internet entertainment service with 130 million paid memberships in over 190 countries enjoying TV series, documentaries and feature films across a wide variety of genres and languages. Members can watch as much as they want, anytime, anywhere, on any internet-connected screen. Members can play, pause and resume watching, all without commercials or commitments.