DUBAI: MBC Group streamer Shahid will debut original production, “Slave Market,” produced by MBC Studios, this month. The nine-episode series, which tells five stories simultaneously taking place in different parts of the world, is written by Kuwait’s Heba Mashari Hamada and directed by award-winning Tunisian director Lassaad Oueslati.All five stories, set in the 1900s, merge together when each story’s protagonist falls into slavery. The show features a global cast including actors such as Fayez Bin Jurays, Apeksha Porwal, Al-Anoud Saud, Hashim Najdi, Haneen Turkistany, Nawaf Al-Dhufairi, Nagham Almalki, Marzouk Al-Ghamdi, Saeed Al-Qahtani, Shyam Kishore, Janique Charles and Chris J Gordon, among others. “Slave Market” was filmed across 104 locations depicting various parts of the Middle East, Africa, Asia and Europe, and features 70 main cast members, 150 supporting cast members and more than 17,000 extras.More than 35 interior and exterior designs, depicting ships from the 1900s, were built exclusively for the series to accurately represent scenes at sea. To accommodate scenes at sea, more than 35 interior and exterior designs, depicting ships from that period, were built exclusively for the series. A total of 4,700 costumes were created for the series with Yasmine El-Kadi leading wardrobe design. “Slave Market” premieres on Shahid on Jan. 13.