Salman the Persian (TV series)

Salman the Persian (Persian: سلمان فارسی, romanized: Salman-e Farsi) is an upcoming Iranian historical drama television series written and directed by Davood Mir-Bagheri. It is the biggest cultural project in Iranian history. It depicts the story of Salman the Persian in three historical eras of the Sasanian Empire, the Byzantine Empire and the beginning of Islam.

The series is going to be 60 episodes long in 3 seasons, and it is scheduled to air in 2026.

Plot
The series revolves around the life, times and migration of Salman (Rouzbeh) from 568 CE, and continues until the Ghadir Khumm in 632 CE. As a Zoroastrian, Rouzbeh devotes most of his time studying to become a Magus. He later left Iran and began traveling throughout Western Asia to interfaith dialogue with other religious groups. Rouzbeh's searches led him to Christianity and about 70 years of travels to various cities, churches and shrines of the Byzantine era. After meeting the Islamic Prophet Muhammad in Medina, Salman converted to Islam, became one of Muhammad's most prominent non-Arab companions, and one of his closest friends.

Cast
Apart from the main stars, 20,000 actors have been identified from all over Iran, and 1,500 characters are present in the series. A large number of theater actors will play roles in the series. Abdollah Eskandari is the make-up artist. The series includes hundreds of actors from all over the world including Tunisia, Greece, Armenia, India, Iraq, Africa, China, and more. Over 40 professional actors from the mentioned countries will play major roles in the series.
 * Alireza Shoja Nouri
 * Farhad Aslani
 * Mohammad Reza Sharifi Niya
 * Hesam Manzour
 * Hossein Yari
 * Siamak Atlasi
 * Elika Abdolrazzaghi
 * Mahmoud Pak Niat
 * Enayatollah Bakhshi
 * Ali Dehkordi
 * Setareh Eskandari
 * Behnaz Jafari
 * Mohammad Reza Hedayati
 * Hichem Rostom
 * Darius Farhang
 * Enayat Shafie
 * Jafar Dehghan
 * Arash Taj Tehrani
 * Ehteram Boroumand
 * Anoush Moazzami
 * Majid Mozafari
 * Mohammad Fili
 * Hassan Mirbakhri
 * Mohammad Taghi Afshar
 * Genghis Jalilvand
 * Reza Karimi
 * Mohammad Javad Jafarpour
 * Toraj Nasr
 * Shokrkhoda Goodarzi
 * Behnaz Tavakoli
 * Youssef Sayadi
 * Mehran Ghafourian
 * Genghis Vosughy
 * Buick Mirzaei
 * Abdul Reza Akbari
 * Shahram Abdulli
 * Mohammadreza Haqgoo
 * Mehdi Sabai
 * Rahman Bagharian
 * Ali Osiwand
 * Mehdi Fakhimzadeh
 * Mehdi Sabai
 * Amir Rezaei
 * Sajjad Mohin Ahadzadeh
 * Manos Pintzis
 * Panagiotis Bougiouris
 * Nikos Porsanidis
 * Christina Sotiriou
 * Panos Gogos
 * Samul Sarkisian
 * Ramona Shah
 * Tomaj Danesh Behzadi
 * Pouyan Hakemi
 * Arian Babadi

Pre-production
Mir-Bagheri finished the initial writing in 1999 and according to him, he has been writing it for 20 years. Early discussions and pre-production of the series began in 2016, after two years of research and crew's trips to areas such as Georgia, Armenia, Morocco, Turkey, Africa, Khuzestan, Chabahar, Tatev Monastery, Khor Virap, Lut Desert, Etchmiadzin Cathedral, Garni Temple, Fez, Casablanca, Rabat and Tangier. The crew also visited dozens of historical sites from the Ancient Carthage, Barbarian, and Roman eras in various countries, many of which flourished in the 5th to 6th centuries AD, coinciding with Salman's travels.

Filming
The official filming and production of the series started in December of 2018 in Shahdad, Kerman. The actors and crew also filmed in other locations such as Shahrood, Semnan, Qeshm Island, Damavand and Mazandaran. A significant part of the filming has been done in the natural landscapes of Iran. Turkey was also considered as one of the locations of the series, but due to COVID-19, this plan was canceled. The crew has shot several Byzantine-era scenes in Armenia and Saint Stepanos Monastery in Julfa. The Sassanid season has been filmed in areas such as Shahrood, Hyrcanian forests and Mojen, which includes several historical places such as Ctesiphon, Silk Road, Fars and Isfahan. A significant part of the Sassanid season has been filmed at multiple Cinema Towns in Tehran. For the first time ever, the series will depict 100 years of Iranian history from the time of Khosrow I, Hormizd IV, Kavad I, Shirin and Farhad, the death of Khosrow II, Bahram Chobin and many others.

Set design and Visual effects
The set designer of the series is the veteran Mohsen Shah Ebrahimi. Approximately 12 thousand clothes have been designed and produced for the series. The series is one of the first works of Iranian cinema and television that is using Chroma Key technology for visual effects.