Gagnants (TV series)

Gagnants
Gagnants title card
Genre	Coming of age drama Slice of life Romance
Created by	Leyla Meinert
Based on	Gagnants by Leyla Meinert
Written by	Leyla Meinert Mannix van Devanter
Directed by	Benoit Lichterman Femke Bick Mannix van Devanter
Starring	Aurora Garner Ava Campi Elijah Voss Mahmood Malik Sebastian Dereumaux Suus van Smienk
Opening theme	"Lundi bleu" by L'ordre
Composer(s)	Eric Kaper
Country of origin	Hennehouwe
Original language(s)	Hennish, Gaullican
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	9
Production
Executive producer(s)	Leyla Meinert Benoit Lichterman Femke Bick Mannix van Devanter
Camera setup	Single-camera
Running time	54-57 minutes
Production company(s)	Horizon Pictures Ecran Hennehouwe
Distributor	HNO Internationaal iPlay
Release
Original network	De Eerste (Hennehouwe) iPlay (international)
Picture format	HDTV 1080i
Audio format	Surround
First shown in	Hennehouwe
Original release	October 14, 2021 (2021-10-14) – present (present)

Gagnants ("Winners") is a Hennish coming of age drama television series produced by Horizon Pictures and Ecran Hennehouwe for De Eerste and iPlay. It is based principally on the 2018 novel of the same name by Leyla Meinert, who also serves as the series' lead writer and executive producer. The series follows the lives of six students from radically different backgrounds whose lives intersect at the start of their undergraduate studies at the prestigious Leeuwenbrug University.

The series is filmed on-location at Leeuwenbrug University in Leeuwenbrug, Flamia, with additional filming for season one taking place in s'Holle and Gaullica. Writing for the series was conducted by Meinert and Mannix van Devanter, the latter of whom also served as director alongside Benoit Lichterman and Femke Bick. The series premiered on De Eerste in Hennehouwe on 14 October 2021, with an international release through iPlay one day later on 15 October 2021.

The first season of Gagnants received positive reviews in its native Hennehouwe, with praise for its cast performances, writing, cinematography, and its approach to sensitive and taboo topics. Issues addressed during the first season included love, sex, mental health, drug use, sexual assault, LGBTQ+ issues and friendship breakdown. Gagnants won an award for Best Hennish Drama at the 2022 Gouden Awards, with individual awards for cast members Aurora Garner and Mahmood Malik for Breakthrough Actress and Breakthrough Actor, respectively. On 10 January 2022, HNO and iPlay announced that Gagnants had been green lit for a second season, slated to air in late 2023.

Premise

Gagnants focuses on the lives and experiences of six students at Leeuwenbrug University. The institution is Hennehouwe's highest ranked university and considered to be its most prestigious, with the show's title referring to the informal description of the university's students as "winners" of the education system. The lives of the six students, who each come from strikingly different backgrounds to one other, become intertwined when they find themselves sharing a communal flat in one of the many residential halls of the university during their first year of studies, which forms the basis of the first season.

Season 1 focuses on the overarching themes of identity, freedom and exploration, with each of the main characters facing their own dilemmas. Eden uses her first year of university in a new city to find her identity and circle, now free from the small-town mentality and stigma she faced in her hometown. Mia struggles with self-acceptance and comes across as somewhat cold and reserved to her acquaintances, with it being revealed during the season that she faced pressure to succeed academically and had been abused by her father in her teen years. Kasper enters university just over one year on from the sudden death of his mother, and faces an internal conflict over his future professional pathway. Saif deals with the culture shock of entering Leeuwenbrug, a very different world to that of his working class upbringing, and begins to explore his sexuality, thus bringing him into conflict with his hometown peers and his religion. Art becomes exposed to a world of alcohol and drugs as he comes to a head with his toxic masculinity, with Froukje finding her identity through expressing herself more openly whilst trying to make friends in an environment more conducing to that than in her past.

Cast

Main cast of Gagnants

Aurora Garner as Eden

File:MIMI KEENE 3379 Joseph Sinclair (cropped).jpg

Ava Campi as Mia

Elijah Voss as Kasper

Mahmood Malik as Saif

Sebastian Dereumaux as Art

Suus van Smienk as Froukje

Main

• Aurora Garner as Eden de Jonge, a student of Euclean & Linguistics Studies from a middle class suburban background. She is transgender and pansexual, who embraces a fresh start at university as an opportunity to discover her true self.
• Ava Campi as Mia Sabatine, a mathematics student from an entrepreneurial Etrurian family. She is Art's love interest during season one.
• Elijah Voss as Kasper Hendrix, a liberal arts student from Stavenisse whose primary passion is music.
• Mahmood Malik as Saif al-Safi, an engineering student from the Nieuwenhuis district of s'Holle. A highly academic student from a socio-economically disadvantaged background and a troubled past, his education and accommodation is provided for on a scholarship.
• Sebastian Dereumaux as Art Klok, a business and economics student from a wealthy, Catholic background. His mother is a prominent federal conservative politician. He is Mia's love interest during season one.
• Suus van Smienk as Froukje Pieffers, a biology stduent who becomes involved with the student media association and feminist causes on-campus. She frequently recounts her life experiences as part of short stories she writes.

Episodes

Series		Episodes		Originally aired
				First aired	Last aired
	1	9		14 October 2021 (2021-10-14)	9 December 2021 (2021-12-09)

Production

Development

Following the successful release of the novel in 2018, Leyla Meinert announced on social media that she had begun writing a draft script for a televised adaptation of Gagnants in December 2018. In March 2020, it was announced that HNO and iPlay jointly commissioned a nine-episode series written by Meinert and Mannix van Devanter. Both were also named as executive producers for the drama, alongside co-directors Femke Bick and Benoit Lichternman. s'Holle-based Horizon Pictures was announced as the production company behind the show, with additional funding and support coming from the semi-state-funded media agency Ecran Hennehouwe and the Government of Flamia. It was reported in January 2022 that Gagnants was one of the most expensive television series in Hennish history in terms of production costs.

Casting took place in early 2020, with approximately 1,000 actors reported to have taken part in auditions for the main cast.

On 10 January 2022, HNO and iPlay announced that a second season of Gagnants had been commissioned, due to air in late 2023. Additional casting for new characters to feature in the second season took place in February and March 2022.

Filming

Old Library (Oude Bibliothek) at the University of Leeuwenbrug.

Principal photography for the first season of Gagnants took place on location in Leeuwenbrug in June 2020. Filming in the city and on on-campus sites coincided with the summer recess at Leeuwenbrug University, so as not to disrupt the vast bulk academic activities at the University. Many iconic sites of the University and the city were included in filming for the first season, including the Old Library (Hennish: Oude Bibliotheek) and the Provost's Bridge (Hennish: Provoostbrug). Scenes at the student apartment were filmed in a student housing block in the Wolder district of the city.

Additional filming for the first season took place in s'Holle, Stavenisse and Broek for the main cast's backstories. Filming for episode eight, in which the group travel to Art's family holiday home, took place in the Assonaire region of Gaullica in October 2020.

It was confirmed on social media in June 2022 that filming had commenced in Leeuwenbrug for the second season that month.

Music

The soundtrack for the show includes music by both Hennish and international artists, with recently-released material, songs from the 1980's and 1990's, as well as covers of older songs by Hennish artists. The theme tune used for Gagnants is "Lundi bleu" by 1980's Gaullican rock band L'ordre. Following the show's premiere, the song re-entered the Hennish charts for the first time in 33 years, peaking at number six in November 2021. "Kasper's lied" (Kasper's Song), sung by lead actor Elijah Voss during the last episode of season one, was subsequently released on streaming platforms and peaked at number three in the Hennish charts.

Release

The premiere of Gagnants aired on De Eerste in Hennehouwe on 14 October 2021, with subsequent episodes of season one airing weekly on Thursday nights through to 9 December 2021. Episodes were simultaneously made available on HNO's streaming service HNO Nu.

Outside of Hennehouwe, episodes were made available on iPlay in most markets one day after its Hennish airing, beginning with the first episode on 15 October 2021 (16 October in some Asterian markets), with the final episode being made available on 10 December 2021. A number of broadcasters have also bought rights to air the show in their domestic markets.

Reception

Critical response

The first season of Gagnants was met with critical acclaim from critics in its native Hennehouwe. Much of the praise for the series has been given for its storytelling, acting, aesthetics, and for its portrayal of sensitive topics and of the contemporary experience of Hennish youth. Ludo Hoekstra of Courant described Gagnants as a "commentary on the dynamics of Hennehouwe's new generation—of both the thrilling highs and sobering lows they experience—underpinned by masterful performances of the lead cast." Femke van Outen of Initiée praised the performances of Garner and van Smienk in particular. Tabitha Jadot remarked that Gagnants accurately portrayed the social norms and popular culture reflected in today's society, in tandem with a realistic depiction of issues that have often been neglected by older generations, such as mental health and gender identity. Mark Vanneste of TeleVandaag wrote that whilst that Gagnants was an example of the "rise of modern Hennish drama", he warned that the inclusion of so many unique characters with parallel storylines risked "running the show off-course" in the longer term.

On the subject of the show's portrayal of sensitive subject matter, Gagnants has also received praise from a number of organisations. TransH, a s'Holle-based organisation that supports trans youth, lauded the performance of Garner and the show's depiction of trans people in general. Gedachtenhuis, a mental health advocacy charity, praised the series' portrayal of mental health issues, and in particular the depiction of a counselling session in the seventh episode of the first season.

The first episode of Gagnants was watched by an estimated 1.1 million viewers on television, representing a 31% audience share. This jumped to 57% when measuring the audience share among 15-34 year olds. The first episode was streamed more than 860,000 times on HNO's streaming service, HNO Nu, during its first week of availability — breaking previous records for the platform. Subsequent episodes received similar numbers for both TV and streamed broadcasts, with increasingly higher proportions of viewers streaming the show online towards the season finale. More than 1.4 million people watched the season finale on television, making it the most watched television programme of 2021 in Hennehouwe excluding live sport, news and Het Grote Songfestival. Between the season premiere and the end of 2021, more than 18 million streams of Gagnants on HNO Nu were recorded.

Controversy and criticism

Upon airing, Gagnants received criticism for its portrayal of some topics, including drug use, excessive alcohol consumption, sexual content and depression. FARI, the Hennish federal media watchdog, recorded an unprecedented number of complaints for a fictional drama in relation to Gagnants. In particular, the authority received more than 700 complaints about the contents of the sixth episode, broadcast on De Eerste on 18 November 2021, which included graphic depictions of sexual activity and a drug overdose. Concerns were raised as to the potential ramifications of the series' content on younger viewers. Liesbeth Schmits, a member of the First Chamber for the People's Party for Sotirian Democracy, brought the matter to parliament, expressing distaste at the "dark, depraved and fatalist" nature of some scenes and called for the public broadcaster to stop funding the project. Ultimately, FARI rejected all complaints made against the broadcast of the series, concluding that it "did not break broadcasting ethics or standards" and that its content was permissable on the grounds of it being aired post-watershed. In response to criticism, HNO added a pop-up disclaimer for viewers on its streaming service warning them of the series' explicit content.

Political discussions also centered on the production cost of the series. Gagnants was confirmed to be the most expensive Hennish drama series ever produced, with a portion of its funding coming from HNO and Ecran Hennehouwe, both of which receive federal funding. Co-director Mannix van Devanter affirmed that the majority of Gagnants' funding originated from the private sector, and that its production created indirect employment in the film and hospitality industry, particularly in the Leeuwenbrug area. The issue of funding was also discussed at the Joint Senate Committee on Media & Communications.

A number of critics also addressed the perceived lack of diversity amongst the wider cast. Following the airing of the first season, HNO and Horizon Pictures announced that they would double their efforts to make the cast "more representative of the Hennish youth of today" for the second season.

Cultural impact

Gagnants became a popular topic on Hennish social media during its initial run, further increasing its reach and visibility. The hashtag #Gagnants was the top trending topic in Hennehouwe on the Chirpr platform during the televised broadcast of all eight episodes of the first season. The series instantly grew a large fanbase and following online, with fans and casual viewers alike discussing the show and sharing memes related to its content.

Leeuwenbrug University received increased attention as a result of its depiction in the series. Following the first episode, the University's website crashed due to the high volume of searches, which also partially took down the online portal for Leeuwenbrug students for a number of hours. In March 2022, the University's academic office announced that applications for undergraduate places at the University for the 2022/3 academic year increased by 13% from the previous year. The Chancellor of Leeuwenbrug University, Henk Schroeter, attributed the rise in demand to the interest generated by Gagnants. Some members of the University's trust board raised concerns over the depiction of academic and student life at the institution, accusing the show's producers of portraying a "false narrative" of Leeuwenbrug. HNO responded to these claims by stating it would liaison more closely with university stakeholders ahead of future production of the series.

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominee	Result
2022	Gouden Awards	Breakthrough Actress	Aurora Garner	Won
		Breakthrough Actor	Mahmood Malik	Won
		Best Writing	Leyla Meinert	Nominated
		Best Director	Mannix van Devanter	Nominated
		Best Cinematography	Gagnants	Nominated
		Best Hennish Drama	Gagnants	Won