It's been a bit over a year since Netflix first announced its first-ever original Arabic series. On June 13, that broadcast became a reality.
Jinn, a supernatural thriller drama, is now officially available to watch on the streaming platform. This comes a day after the series launched at a red carpet event in Amman, one of the two Jordanian cities where the show was shot. The ancient city of Petra is the other.
Netflix streamers in 190 countries now have access to the five-episode season, which is available in seven languages including French, Hindi, Portuguese, and English.
Subtitles in 20 other languages are also available to users.
The drama thriller follows a group of teenagers whose "lives are disrupted when a Jinn in the form of a teenage boy appears to them in the ancient city of Petra."
Friendships and romantic relationships are put to the test after the students unintentionally welcomed the supernatural forces of the jinn into their lives.
Jinn features Middle Eastern talent and is executively produced by Elan and Rajeev Dassani (SEAM). It's directed by Lebanese filmmaker Mir-Jean Bou Chaaya, who's well known for his 2015 hit feature Very Big Shot.
This marks Netflix's second work in the region, after Adel Karam: Live from Beirut stand-up comedy show, but its first original series.
"Looking forward to watching Jinn"
"I watched the first two episodes and they're amazing"
"I finished the entire season already"
"I watched the entire thing"
"With its ending, it seems as though there will be a Season 2"
Netflix originals in the Middle East are on FIRE
Jinn may be Netflix's first original Arabic series, but it certainly isn't the streaming giant's last. Its original productions seem to be the talk of the Arab world in 2019. The American company recently announced two other series including the all-female series titled Al Rawabi School for Girls and the horror series Paranormal.
The former series revolves around a bullied girl executing a plan to take revenge on her bullies, "only to find out that no one is all bad, and no one is all good, including herself." The latter is based on the best-selling Arabic horror books by late Egyptian author Ahmed Khaled Tawfik. It will be a joint production by Salama and Mohammed Hefzy, an Egyptian producer whose roster of films includes Sheikh Jackson and Microphone.