Notre Dame de Paris fire to be made into TV series inspired by Chernobyl

Pathe, one of Europe’s most respected film groups, is to enter the TV drama arena with Philippe Rousselet’s Vendôme Group, producing an ambitious miniseries about the devastating fire that devastated Notre Dame Cathedral this year.

The untitled series, which will reveal the cause of the fire and how firefighters and police fought to save the iconic cathedral from total destruction, is in early development and is the first television project under the three-year Vendome/Pathe production partnership announced at the Cannes Film Festival.

Rousselet told Variety that the show was inspired by Chernobyl, which centers around a symbolic theme and follows a myriad of characters, telling a story from multiple perspectives.

The show will be shot primarily in English, but will have characters who speak different languages ​​to make the series feel as natural as possible, the producers said. Vendome and Pathe are in talks with writers and well-known British directors.

“Notre Dame is more than a building. It is the birthplace of Paris and part of its soul. This play will tell the true story of what happened on that fateful night, but it is not just about what happened on April 19,” said Rousselet.

Rousselet said the series will tell a "universal story" that reflects "the inherent fragility at the heart of a country's culture and life itself".