Telemundo making Spanish-language Les Mis adaptation

Telemundo is making a Spanish-language version of Victor Hugo’s classic historical novel Les Misérables.

The US Hispanic-focused adaptation, Los Miserables, is being made by Telemundo’s in-house production unit, Telemundo Studios with Argos Television.

Los Miserables, which has just entered production and is being filmed in Mexico, will have a contemporary setting and star Aracely Arambula (La Patrona). She will play a woman who is released from a Texas jail after serving 11 years for a crime she didn’t commit.

Separately, NBCUniversal-owned Telemundo has launched a local version of the Hijos del Monte telenovela in the Middle East. The series originally went out on TVN in Chile and Telemundo Internacional distributes the finished show and format internationally.

It has agreed a scripted format deal with LBC1 in Lebanon, Abu Dhabi Media in United Arab Emirates, and on CBC in Egypt, which are airing Al Ikhwa, the local version of the drama. Endemol produces the Middle Eastern show, which follows five brothers born into a wealthy Abu Dhabi family who have to deal with the return of a long-lost sister who lays claim to the family fortune.