'Gomorrah' Writers Tapped for 'Butchers of Berlin' TV Adaptation

Leonardo Fasoli and Maddalena Ravagli will adapt the Nazi Germany-set murder mystery by Chris Petit into a scripted series.


Leonardo Fasoli and Maddalena Ravagli, best known as being among the writers of critically-acclaimed crime drama Gomorrah, have been attached to pen the book-to-TV adaptation of The Butchers of Berlin.


Connect3 Media Inc. and Racine Media have secured the television rights to the novel. In partnership with Cineflix Media, the companies will be developing it into a scripted series for the international market.


Written by Chris Petit, The Butchers of Berlin is a murder mystery set in war-torn Nazi Germany 1943 and centers on the story of financial crime investigator August Schlegel, who is assigned to a homicide case and finds himself immersed in a world full of questions with no easy answers. The book is the first in a developing series following Schlegel through the plotting and paranoia of the Third Reich.


“Collaborating with the creative duo of Leonardo Fasoli and Maddalena Ravagli, and the forces at Racine Media and Cineflix Media to develop a premium drama series for global audiences is incredibly exciting,” said Pablo Salzman, president of Connect3. "The Butchers of Berlin is a well-paced suspenseful novel, and we look forward to combining our expertise to bring this story to life.”


Pablo Salzman and Julien Leroux, senior vp, global scripted co-productions for Cineflix Media, will be shopping the series at upcoming MIPCOM and MIA.


The Butchers of Berlin was published in 2016 by Simon & Schuster U.K. Petit’s other novels include political thrillers The Psalm Killer, The Human Pool, and The Passenger – which is currently being developed as a feature film.


Fasoli and Ravagli also wrote the thriller Don’t Leave Me (Non Mi Lasciare) and are also currently working on ZeroZeroZero for Canal+, Sky, and Amazon.