Munich, 22 April 2025. The historical drama Rise of the Raven has conquered Austrian audiences during its premiere on ORF. The first two episodes were highly popular among the younger audiences aged 12-29 and reached an astonishing 25% market share on Monday evening during prime-time. The series is based on the life of János Hunyadi, who fought the Ottoman empire during the 15th century, and is currently breaking all records in Hungary, as the most watched series on TV2 ever.

Rise of the Raven tells the story of fearless army commander János Hunyadi (Gellért Kádár), who devotes his life to defending Europe against an Ottoman invasion. His strongest allies are the women in his life: Erzsébet (Vivien Rujder), the wife who fights alongside him, and Mara (Franciska Töröcsik), his first love, who breaks his heart by becoming lead concubine in Sultan Murad’s (Murathan Muslu) court. When the Ottoman Empire mobilizes an army with the objective of conquering the Vatican and Europe, Hunyadi leads his small but mighty army to the battlefield.

The first two episodes had almost 500,000 views on ORF 1 and the ORF library, the linear market share peaking at 16 and 17 percent. The series was produced by Robert Lantos (Sunshine) and directed by Robert Dornhelm (Maria Theresia), Orsi Nagypal, and Attila Szász, with Balázs Lengyel serving as showrunner. Rise of the Raven is produced by Serendipity Point Films, Twin Media, HG Media, MR Film, and Beta Film.