Parallel Lives

Parallel Lives
Promotional image for the show
Genre	Historical drama
Written by	Oksen Tavitian Boyka Teodorova Zhivkova Kristijan Milevski Anja Ćulić
Directed by	Petse Krakowski
Country of origin	Syara
Original language(s)	Syaran
No. of episodes	20
Production
Producer(s)	Mateja Gabrić Petvqar Karandzhulov Heghineh Manoukian
Production location(s)	Syara
Cinematography	Yoan Kirilov Manevski Angelina Kitevska
Editor(s)	Hayrabed Suzmeian Tasos Gjorgjinski Jakov Bartaković
Running time	1,200 minutes
Production company(s)	CloudSpine Studio
Budget	$200 million
Release
Original network	KRL
Original release	June 1, 2022 (2022-06-01) – June 1, 2024 (2024-06-01)

Parallel Lives (Syaran: Паралелни животи, Paralelni životi) is a Syaran historical drama anthology series created and directed by Petse Krakowski. The series consists of 20 one hour episodes set across the history of Syara, from the Archaic Era to modern day, covering a wide range of settings and events. Characters and plot vary from episode to episode, exploring different aspects of life throughout history. Characters in the series range from portrayals of real life historical figures to fictional ones created for the series. Settings include Classical Syara, the Symmerian Empire, the Boulekratos, the Later Symmerian Empire, the Rioni Union, the Syaran Successor States, and the Republic of Syara. The series was filed across Syara, parts of Chryse, Quenmin, and Shirvaniya.

The first episode of the series premiered 1 June 2022 and concluded two years later on 1 June 2024. The cast of the series was varied and included many premier actors from across Syaran media, including Tase Rajcevski, Gabrijel Domazet, Tanya Davidova, and Penteley Borisov Pramatarov. Reception of the series was highly positive, sweeping the annual Syaran TV awards for the three years in was on the air and was praised by critics and audience alike.

Premise

Parallel Lives is an anthology series, thus lacks a distinct set of characters or plot. Instead each episode covers a specific time in history and setting, with the time frame within each episode varying from a few days to several years. The plot of each episode varies in tone and theme, with the time period often influencing or advancing the plot through external events such as natural disasters or wars. The characters in the series are a mixture of real life figures and fictional characters created for the series; in some episodes the characters are based on named figured from history but whom are not provided any detail into their lives by the historical record. While the majority of the characters of the series originate from Syara, the historical setting of many involves non-Syaran characters from other nations such as Ruvelka, Shirvaniya, Serikos, Acrea, Cacerta, and Quenmin. Apart from a few cameos throughout the series, actors do not reprise their roles in the series until the final episode. There is no particular consistency in the range of years that occur between episodes in-universe, with some taking place only a few years after the previous episode while others feature several centuries between episodes.

Production

Showrunner and director Petse Krakowski stated in an interview in December 2023 that his original idea for the series was first envisioned in 2011 as a "war chronicle" documenting a series of reincarnating characters who participate in historical conflicts, with each episode focusing on a particular war up until present day. Krakowski shopped around the idea with long time partner Mateja Gabrić, who brought aboard writer Oksen Tavitian to outline a pilot script. The idea was shopped around several studies between 2012-2013, but according to Gabrić the response was mixed. One studio requests an additional three story outlines, which Tavitian originally obliged but later felt that writing every plot around a battle or war was limiting. Krakowski would also find the post-Zemplen War media landscape saturated with war-related media, which he described as a "frenzy in which everyone seemed to want to say something, but nobody really knew what to say, so it just came out as a lot of noise". By mid-2013 Krakowski had abandoned the idea of the "war chronicle", but felt the historical setting as a concept was sound and began retooling the idea. The trio did not collaborate extensively between 2013-2016 as Gabrić took a break from producing to focus on her children, while Tavitian helped with script rewrites for several independent films and Krakowski directed several episodes of the crime drama Runners.

According to Krakowski the idea for an anthology series slowly developed between 2016-2017, which he originally considered a difficult sell to a studio. He would state on social media in 2024 that "a lot of people I suggested the [anthology idea]] originally balked at it, since it would kneecap us from the perspective of developing a recurring cast that the audience could grow to love". To compensate for this Krakowski imagined expanding the scope to a macro-historical perspective, but told from a "ground view" so as to not to leave viewers trying to grasp an overly complicated historical environment. Tavitian was approached in 2017 for assistance with the project, which at the time was simply titled "Chronicles". Tavitian found the idea more appealing and recommended bringing onboard writers Boyka Teodorova Zhivkova who had experience with period pieces Kristijan Milevski. Gabrić and Krakowski reconnected to pitch the idea to the networks, of whom KRL expressed the most interest. KRL eventually agreed to advance the show but requested a name change, citing concern the show would appear as a religious-themed programming owing to the term "Chronicles" being heavily employed within the Zobethos faith. After some brainstorming, Gabrić suggested Parallel Lives, which was approved. In an interview in 2023 Zhivkova revealed she was not a fan of the title, stating "parallel implies running concurrently or side by side without crossing, but we ended up with a series with very little continuity between episodes, so they weren't even really alongside one another in the first place."

Location scouting took place between 2019-2020 and had wrapped up by April, with several locations in Symmeria, Scitaria, Shirvaniya, Quenmin and Górska selected for filming. Auditions and casting for the first three episodes were carried out between 2020-2021. Yoan Kirilov Manevski and Angelina Kitevska took over cinematography in 2021 after "creative differences" arose with the original team. Writer Anja Ćulić joined the team in 2022 after the first three episodes had aired to help out with the remainder of the series. Assistant producer Petvqar Karandzhulov was brought aboard shortly after filming began in light of the complications brought forward by trying to recreate scenes set thousands of years in the past, and was later joined by Heghineh Manoukian. Editing was handled by a trio of Hayrabed Suzmeian, Tasos Gjorgjinski, and Jakov Bartaković who were all veterans of CloudSpine Studios. While filming wrapped up in 2023, editing continued until late April, with Suzmein admitting at one point they were considered postponing the final two episodes.

While virtually all of the production staff have stated they were pleased with the final product, many have gone on record that the actual production process was difficult and unpleasant. Gabrić stated in an interview that casting and costume was the most difficult part. "We had to not only find a brand new set of actors for each episode save the last, we also had to consult a dozen historians of each stripe, society, language, religion, culture, cuisine, clothing, you name it. Consultation was a mess of asking a million questions, then going about and implementing those answers into the script, the actors, the set pieces. It was a nonstop deluge of video chats, emails, and late phone calls. I spent half the time worried I was stress eating too much only to find out I worked off most of them by pacing around my workshop each day for six hours while on the phone with some university professor." Krakowski acknowledged the production was difficult but defended the lengths the team went to. "We had to recreate 20 worlds with their own uniqueness; I wanted total immersion in all aspects, and that took a lot of work. I think it was worth it."

Episodes

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
1	"Sanctuary"	Petse Krakowski	Oksen Tavitian	May 23, 2020 (2020-05-23)
A young woman (she is not named in the episode) awakens in the aftermath of a Bastarnae raid that leaves her village in flames and her family killed. She joins a throng of refugees fleeing for the polis of Achrotos. While en-route to the city she stops along with other travelers to pray at a shrine dedicated to Hermes. Their prayers are interrupted by an elder man who declared the Bastarnae signal the end times and the destruction of Syara. Shortly thereafter the refugees give way to a Kydonian army marching out to meet the Bastarnae in battle. Before resuming the journey the young woman stops to help another woman and her children, and they began traveling as a group. Once they arrive at Acrhotos however the refugees are refused entry for fear of disease, forcing the group to resort to begging outside the city walls. The young woman and the mother struggle to feed themselves and the children, and are often refused entry into certain areas for lacking a male chaperone. After several days outside of Achrotos a beleaguered messenger arrives to warn that the Kydomian army was destroyed by the Bastarnae and is on the way to besiege the city. Achrotos officials appear outside the city and promise the refugees a place in the city if they assist in building fortifications to prepare for the siege. The two women and the children help dig trenches, but when the Bastarnae appear on the horizon the officials close the gates without bringing the refugees inside Achrotos. The two women and the children are trapped outside, but the young woman notices a small side gate where supplies are being hauled to and they are able to sneak in through by hiding in a cart. The siege begins with a slaughter of the refugees outside the walls, while inside the group is forced to sleep on the street as the city is surrounded. The young woman is forced to prostitute herself for scraps, and starvation sets in among the populace. One of the children becomes sick and dies, while the city officials become increasingly desperate for salvation from the Gods and begin sacrificing the downtrodden; after several instances, the young woman is grabbed to be sacrificed at the main temple. Just before she is killed however a trumpet announces the arrival of an army from Symmeria, which causes the Bastarnae to abruptly break the siege. The Symmerians occupy the city and execute the priests and officials who performed the human sacrifice, as it is an affront to the Symmerian religion. After a few days an army from Galania appears and the Symmerians join with them to pursue the Bastarnae. The young woman tells the mother they should join them, but the exhausted mother has little desire to leave. The young woman bids her farewell and tries to join the Galanians, but they refuse her as she lacks a male chaperone. The Symmerians however allow her to join so long as she guides a mule carrying supplies, and she departs the city.
2	"Odyssey"	Petse Krakowski	Oksen Tavitian	May 30, 2020 (2020-05-30)
3	"Gold to Chains"	Petse Krakowski	Boyka Teodorova Zhivkova	June 6, 2020 (2020-06-06)
4	"Rivers of Blood and Mountains of Bodies"	Petse Krakowski	Boyka Teodorova Zhivkova	June 13, 2020 (2020-06-13)
5	"Migration"	Petse Krakowski	Boyka Teodorova Zhivkova	June 20, 2020 (2020-06-20)
6	"Days of Rice and Salt"	Petse Krakowski	Kristijan Milevski	June 27, 2020 (2020-06-27)
7	"Shoals and Lost Souls"	Petse Krakowski	Kristijan Milevski	July 4, 2020 (2020-07-04)
8	"Eracura"	Petse Krakowski	Oksen Tavitian	July 11, 2020 (2020-07-11)
9	"Home is where the Hearth is"	Petse Krakowski	Boyka Teodorova Zhivkova	July 18, 2020 (2020-07-18)
10	"The Seleucids"	Petse Krakowski	Anja Ćulić	July 25, 2020 (2020-07-25)
11	"Downfall"	Petse Krakowski	Boyka Teodorova Zhivkova	June 13, 2020 (2020-06-13)
12	"Union"	Petse Krakowski	Kristijan Milevski	June 13, 2020 (2020-06-13)
13	"The Twins"	Petse Krakowski	Oksen Tavitian	June 13, 2020 (2020-06-13)
14	"Dissolution"	Petse Krakowski	Kristijan Milevski	June 13, 2020 (2020-06-13)
15	"Pella"	Petse Krakowski	Anja Ćulić	June 13, 2020 (2020-06-13)
16	"Steam and Steel"	Petse Krakowski	Boyka Teodorova Zhivkova	June 13, 2020 (2020-06-13)
17	"What have we done"	Petse Krakowski	Oksen Tavitian	June 13, 2020 (2020-06-13)
18	"Broken Years"	Petse Krakowski	Boyka Teodorova Zhivkova	June 13, 2020 (2020-06-13)
19	"When Brother Slays Brother"	Petse Krakowski	Kristijan Milevski	June 13, 2020 (2020-06-13)
20	"How far we've come"	Petse Krakowski	Oksen Tavitian	June 13, 2020 (2020-06-13)