'The Crown'-Inspired Drama About Iran's Last Royal Family in Development at Random Access Media (EXCLUSIVE)

An epic drama series about Iran’s last monarchy is in the works, Variety has learned.

Inspired by “The Crown,” Netflix’s sweeping dramatization of the British royal family, “The Last Shah” will span four decades, beginning during World War II, when the young monarch, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, ascended the throne, and ending in 1979 with the Islamic Revolution and the American Embassy hostage crisis in Tehran.

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The series, in development at writer Morrie Rosmarin’s production company Random Access Media, will follow the story of Pahlavi and his third wife, Queen Farah Pahlavi. Often compared to Jackie Kennedy, the elegant and progressive queen was a champion of women’s rights and modern art. She married the Shah in 1959, wearing a dazzling Dior dress embroidered with silver thread and pearls, designed by Yves Saint Laurent.

“A heroic and ultimately tragic story of a wife, mother and queen trying to save her husband, the Shah of Iran, his family, his dynasty and his homeland,” the newspaper reads . “Told from the perspective of Empress Farah Pahlavi, it is an epic struggle for the survival of the Iranian monarchy at the crossroads of the modern world. The characters are intertwined in a gripping saga of personal relationships, family crises, palace intrigues, religious upheavals and machinations of Shakespearean proportions, all set against the tinderbox of a brewing revolution that will change the course of history. history.

The series should be especially timely given Iran’s current role in geopolitics. On Sunday, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was killed after his helicopter crashed in the country. His death was confirmed by Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

It was Khamenei’s predecessor, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who led the Iranian revolution that saw the Shah overthrown and the monarchy replaced by a fundamentalist regime, the Islamic Republic of Iran.

“Many people today (especially younger people) do not know that before the Islamic Revolution of 1979, under the rule of the Shah, Iran was one of the most westernized countries in the Middle East,” he said. declared Rosmarin. “In contrast to the bellicose policies of the current religious theocracy of the Islamic Republic, Iran under the Shah was the strongest ally of the United States and Israel in the region. »

Rosmarin, who wrote the pilot episode, is screenwriter, director and producer. He was previously an investigative journalist, working on shows including ABC’s “60 Minutes,” “Dateline” and “20/20.” His first feature film was the documentary “Blood and Tears: The Arab-Israeli Conflict,” which he co-wrote, directed and produced.

Rosmarin also wrote “The Dimona Affair,” a feature film about Israeli nuclear whistleblower Mordechai Vanunu, which is set to be directed by “Six Degrees of Separation” director Fred Schepisi.

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