Heart of a Killer is getting a second season. The Israeli medical thriller, led by Niv Sultan of Apple TV+’s Tehran, has been renewed after its seven-episode debut became one of the most-watched shows on Israeli platform Hot earlier this year.
Federation International, the distribution arm of Federation Studios, will start selling Season 1 to international buyers at Mipcom this week. The renewal and the sales push are moving together, turning a local ratings story into a global content pitch.
A homegrown hit becomes an export
The show stars Sultan as Dr. Dasi Nakash, a transplant surgeon whose decision to save a friend pulls her into a chain of moral dilemmas and confrontations with a medical underworld. The premise is built for international buyers: a high-stakes medical thriller with a recognizable lead.
Behind the title are Sipur Studios and The North Road Company, the partnership that previously delivered Netflix’s Bad Boy. That track record gives buyers a reference point for the kind of polished, platform-ready drama the producers can deliver.
- Season 1: seven episodes on Hot; one of the platform’s most-watched series in recent years.
- Global sales: Federation International begins Season 1 sales at Mipcom this week.
- Creative team: created by Liad Shoham, Gal Zaid and Roni Yaddor; produced by Endemol Shine Israel.
- Buyer hook: Niv Sultan is already known internationally from Tehran.
Why the order matters
For platforms and media planners, a second-season order is a signal. It says the local audience stayed, rather than tuning in for a weekend and vanishing. That is exactly the evidence acquisition teams want before committing to a foreign-language title. The seven-episode run also helps: short seasons are cheaper to subtitle or dub and easier to schedule as a binge.
Sipur CEO Emilio Schenker framed the renewal around local proof, calling the series “one of Hot’s most-watched series in recent years.” Federation International’s Monica Levy called it “a bold, high-stakes thriller” and pointed to Sultan’s recognition from Tehran. The pitch is simple: scale a proven local hit with a familiar face.
For Indian and global streaming buyers, the title sits in a known category: licensed international thrillers with a medical-crime hook. The open question is not whether the show works in Hebrew for an Israeli audience, but whether the package can hold attention in subtitled or dubbed form elsewhere.
What to watch next
The real test is where Season 1 lands. If a major global streamer picks it up, Season 2 is positioned as a returning franchise and becomes a low-friction catalog addition. If it is sold in smaller regional packages, the upside is more limited. Media planners should treat the Mipcom outcome as the next data point before adding the title to a slate forecast.
Source: Variety
