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 – June 1, 2024 |
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 |
| 2 | "Odyssey" | Petse Krakowski | Oksen Tavitian | May 30, 2020 |
| 3 | "Gold to Chains" | Petse Krakowski | Boyka Teodorova Zhivkova | June 6, 2020 |
| 4 | "Rivers of Blood and Mountains of Bodies" | Petse Krakowski | Boyka Teodorova Zhivkova | June 13, 2020 |
| 5 | "Migration" | Petse Krakowski | Boyka Teodorova Zhivkova | June 20, 2020 |
| 6 | "Days of Rice and Salt" | Petse Krakowski | Kristijan Milevski | June 27, 2020 |
| 7 | "Shoals and Lost Souls" | Petse Krakowski | Kristijan Milevski | July 4, 2020 |
| 8 | "Eracura" | Petse Krakowski | Oksen Tavitian | July 11, 2020 |
| 9 | "Home is where the Hearth is" | Petse Krakowski | Boyka Teodorova Zhivkova | July 18, 2020 |
| 10 | "The Seleucids" | Petse Krakowski | Anja Ćulić | July 25, 2020 |
| 11 | "Downfall" | Petse Krakowski | Boyka Teodorova Zhivkova | June 13, 2020 |
| 12 | "Union" | Petse Krakowski | Kristijan Milevski | June 13, 2020 |
| 13 | "The Twins" | Petse Krakowski | Oksen Tavitian | June 13, 2020 |
| 14 | "Dissolution" | Petse Krakowski | Kristijan Milevski | June 13, 2020 |
| 15 | "Pella" | Petse Krakowski | Anja Ćulić | June 13, 2020 |
| 16 | "Steam and Steel" | Petse Krakowski | Boyka Teodorova Zhivkova | June 13, 2020 |
| 17 | "What have we done" | Petse Krakowski | Oksen Tavitian | June 13, 2020 |
| 18 | "Broken Years" | Petse Krakowski | Boyka Teodorova Zhivkova | June 13, 2020 |
| 19 | "When Brother Slays Brother" | Petse Krakowski | Kristijan Milevski | June 13, 2020 |
| 20 | "How far we've come" | Petse Krakowski | Oksen Tavitian | June 13, 2020 |