StarzPlay has secured the UK rights to Hulu’s comedy series Ramy after striking a deal with international distributor Lionsgate Worldwide Television Distribution Group. The show’s first season will premiere on StarzPlay on Friday August 30th.
Ramy follows first-generation, Egyptian-American Ramy Hassan who is on a spiritual journey in his politically-divided New Jersey neighborhood. Ramy brings a new perspective to the screen as it explores the challenges of what it’s like to be caught between a Muslim community who believes life is a moral test and a millennial generation that thinks life has no consequences.
The comedy series, which has been renewed for a second season, is produced by A24 and stars Ramy Youssef, Mohammed Amer, Hiam Abbass, Amr Waked, May Calamawy, David Merheje, Laith Nakli and Steve Way. Ramy Youssef, Ari Katcher and Ryan Welch co-created the series and serve as executive producers alongside Jerrod Carmichael, A24’s Ravi Nandan and showrunner Bridget Bedard.
In addition to securing Ramy for the UK market, StarzPlay has also picked up rights to the series in Ireland, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Austria, Belgium and Luxembourg. “Ramy is exactly the kind of premium, noisy content that we are looking to deliver to the global StarzPlay audience,” said Superna Kalle, EVP of International Digital Networks for Starz. “We look forward to debuting the series in the UK and across Europe, where the storytelling – which is equally specific and universal – will most certainly resonate with viewers.”
StarzPlay has proven to be an aggressive buyer of first run content in the UK. Just last week, the streaming service acquired Starz’s upcoming Dangerous Liaisons series from Colin Callender’s production company Playground. They also hold the UK rights to such shows as Epix’s Batman prequel series Pennyworth; Starz originals The Spanish Princess, Vida, Sweetbitter; Hulu originals Castle Rock, Harlots and The Act; and AT&T’s Audience Network’s Stephen King adaptation Mr. Mercedes.
Check out the trailer for Ramy below:
