Spanish near-future political thriller The Interregnum has won the 2025 Seriesmakers award, a prize for projects from feature film directors looking to transition to series, at TV festival Series Mania.
The award, backed by German production and sales company Beta Group, comes with a €50,000 ($54,000) bursary and the opportunity to collaborate with Beta’s Content and Co-Production Division to turn the series pitch into a full development package, including a pilot script.
The Interregnum, pitched by creator Simón Casal and producer Mariela Besuievsky, is set in 2031 and imagines a world where the European Union is facing a historic referendum to approve an AI system that would replace human judges. As the Yes and No campaign managers battle for victory, a dark secret about the AI’s deceased creator threatens to upend not only the election but their own beliefs.
“The creators of The Interregnum impressed with a political thriller that reflects the complexity of some of the most pressing issues of our time: artificial intelligence and justice,” said Ferdinand Dohna, Beta’s Head of Content & Co-Production. “The multi-layered aspects of these issues are told in a gripping thriller that introduces the ticking clock of a fictional EU referendum where the viewer has to decide where they stand.”
In total, 10 projects from across genres and countries competed for this year’s award.
