Netflix has commissioned its first Belgian original, Into The Night, written and created by Narcos and Scandal producer Jason George.

It is the latest move for the SVOD service as it ramps up its investment in original content across Europe.

Into The Night will be directed by Over Water’s Inti Calfat and Dirk Verheye and produced by Entre Chien et Loup.

George, who has written all six episodes, will act as showrunner and exec producer alongside Tomek Baginski (The Witcher) and Jacek Dukaj, whose The Old Axolotl novel is the inspiration for the drama.

Into the Night tells the story about retaining humanity in the face of a cosmic disaster, as a flight departs Brussels. The series will feature an international cast from Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Russia, and Turkey.

The series begins with a sudden solar event, as the sun inexplicably starts killing everything in its path. The show centers around the lucky passengers and crew of an overnight flight out of Brussels, as they attempt to fly west — into the safety of the dark night. The plane’s manifest is multinational and multilingual, with passengers rich and poor, young and old, civilian and military. The seemingly ordinary travelers share but one thing: a desire to survive the sun — and each other — by any means necessary.

Into the Night will launch globally on Netflix in 2020.

Michael Azzolino, Director of International Originals at Netflix said, “We are happy to announce our first Belgian original series Into the Night. We are excited to work with this great international team of writers, producers, directors and cast to bring this unique series to life.”

“Within this high-concept thriller, Into the Night asks a basic question that’s heard a lot these days: Can people still unite for the greater good — or will self-interests tear us apart?” said George. “I was drawn to the idea that a commercial flight is a makeshift community, packing together strangers with different backgrounds and beliefs. Sometimes, this leads to the forming of friendships. Sometimes, it’s arguments over armrests.”

Exec producer Tomek Bagiński added, “The idea is taken from Jacek’s Dukaj great book, The Old Axolotl, about transhumanism. What I loved most in this story was the inevitability of apocalypse and the idea that you can run from it in a plane with a group of strangers who don’t even speak the same language. We never really know people we travel with – to realize that maybe those people are now your tribe – people your survival depends on – this is a base for a great drama and a great thriller.”

George is repped by Kaplan/Perrone and Gang Tyre.