The Mistral district is about to reopen its doors. After several months of rumors, More beautiful life is soon returning to television, according to information revealed on July 16, 2023 in Le Figaro. Almost a year after its stop on France 3, the famous series created in 2004 is making a comeback thanks to the TF1 group and its production subsidiary Newen.
After 18 years of existence and 4,665 episodes broadcast, more than 2.8 million followers attended the saga’s farewell on November 18, 2022, according to Médiamétrie. Building on its popularity with fans, including around 340,000 Internet users on Instagram, the series continued to be rebroadcast on the Chérie 25 channel and on YouTube. Faced with such enthusiasm from the public, the first channel accepted the challenge: to bring Marseille fiction back to life on the screen. Planet lists you the first information to know about the return of Plus belle la vie.
In the final episode of Plus belle la vie “under the France 3 era”, viewers attended seven weddings for a funeral, including the death of the character of Roland Marci (played by Michel Cordes). A final part between emotions, laughter and tears closing a great chapter. Almost nine months after the broadcast, is a sequel to this plot possible on TF1?
“It will not be a simple sequel, but a new creation”, indicates Vincent Meslet, the general manager of the Newen France group in Le Figaro. “We are putting together a team mixing new authors with the heirs of Plus Belle la vie. With the ambition of injecting new dynamism. The series must involve fans from the start and at the same time open up to new audiences who are familiar with the brand”.
On the filming side, holidays do not seem to be on the agenda for the teams. “The writing of the cult series begins this summer! Filming, which begins in mid-October, will take place in Marseille in the emblematic studios of Belle de Mai, as well as in the Marseille region”, can we read in the publication from TF1, which reveals a retrospective of the great moments of the soap opera in a video on Instagram.
“There will be new places to get closer to the Marseille of today”, specifies to our colleagues Vincent Meslet. “And, as always, the plots will be thought out in response to current events”. But, who will be back in the neighborhoods of Marseille for the resumption of filming this fall?
For several months, many names have been circulating around famous stars approached to return to Plus belle la vie. However, some have already declined the invitation like Laetitia Milot. “To be honest, I was not offered to go back there”, revealed the interpreter of Mélanie Rinato this Monday, July 17 in Télé Star. “It’s not surprising, because I hadn’t been contacted for the final episode either.”
Actress Rebecca Hampton also declined the idea of returning to the series, before returning to her comments. “When there were rumors about the return of the series, I said that, in the immediate future, I would not return, having other commitments and priorities”, explained the one who plays this evening on TF1 in Camping Paradis with Télé 7 Jours. “I was waiting to see if this project would really see the light of day”. Nevertheless, the famous heroine reassures: “But, I do not close the door to a return, especially if the production needs Céline Frémont to make a small appearance”.
Another key figure in the soap opera, the actress Lola Marois remains similarly evasive about the return of her character to Marseille. “I am someone who likes to renew myself, who likes to put myself in danger”, she declared last November in TPMP on C8. “I was also happy that fate forced me to roll up my sleeves and go back to work”.
In the meantime, TF1 has already confirmed the return of several emblematic actors to the Olympian city. Among them, the public will find on their screens Marwan Berreni (Abdel Fedala), Sylvie Flepp (Mirta Torres), Léa François (Barbara Évenot), Stéphane Hénon (Jean-Paul Boher), Cécilia Hornus (Blanche Marci) or Laurent Kérusoré ( Thomas Marci).
If the filming of the favorite fiction of Marseille should resume this fall, fans will have to be patient before discovering the new episodes. As TF1 and Newen Studios indicate on Instagram, “More beautiful life is waiting for you in early 2024!”. As for the broadcast schedule, nothing has yet been decided according to Ara Aprikian around the series also broadcast on the MYTF1 site.
“Various options are still on the table. I can simply say that it will be prime time,” confirms the deputy director general in charge of content for the TF1 group with our colleagues. With strong brands such as Here everything begins (broadcast at 6:30 p.m.) and Tomorrow belongs to us (at 7:10 p.m.), TF1 should find an adequate slot to allow the broadcast of Plus belle la vie: after the 1 p.m. newspaper, during the post- noon instead of reruns of foreign TV films or from 6 p.m., preceding the two French dramas also produced by Newen.
