Amazon Prime Video has taken global streaming rights to “Islanders,” a seven-episode Taiwanese psychological drama slated for 2025, extending the service’s push into Mandarin-language storytelling. The pick-up follows Amazon’s first Taiwanese acquisition, crime sequel The World Between Us: After the Flames, which bows worldwide this week and signals rising corporate interest in the island’s screen sector.
Directed by Jiyuan Ler and Pao-Chang Tsai and produced by Screenworks Asia with Jollify Creative, Islanders adapts Lolita Hu’s award-winning novel Islands. The seven instalments run 45-55 minutes and received both script development and production support from Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture.
Set between 2000 and 2014, the plot traces an older entrepreneur’s romance with a young photographer against the rise of social media and shifting cross-strait economics. Its readiness to tackle contemporary anxieties echoes forthcoming invasion thriller Zero Day, another locally backed drama now in post-production.
Analysts view the deal as part of Amazon’s wider Asia-Pacific strategy. Prime Video already operates in more than 200 territories, including Taiwan, under an introductory low-cost plan that built an early subscriber base. The company further strengthened regional infrastructure by opening a new hub in Singapore this year.
Viewer appetite for Taiwan-made series is rising; FlixPatrol charts show domestic titles entering Prime Video’s top-ten list in Taipei during early June. Industry observers also note that political saga Island Nation proved a domestically financed drama can travel once international platforms step in.
For Amazon, Islanders supplies a contemporary adult drama to complement lighter 2025 fare such as new seasons of Reacher and docuseries 50,000 First Dates. A fixed premiere day has yet to be announced, but the streamer confirms the show will land in original Mandarin with multi-language subtitles on delivery.
