Israeli producer of ‘Tehran’ TV spy series Dana Eden found dead in Athens

Israeli producer Dana Eden attends Apple TV's 'Tehran' season two premiere in 2022 in New York City. Eden was found dead in her hotel room in a suspected suicide in central Athens, Greek police said. Photo / Roy Rochlin, AFP

TV producer Dana Eden, who co-created the hit Israeli spy thriller series Tehran, has been found dead in a hotel room in Athens, Greek police told AFP today.

The 52-year-old Israeli national’s body was found at a hotel near Syntagma Square, in the heart of the Greek capital, the force said.

“An autopsy has been ordered, the surveillance cameras have been reviewed, and everything seems to indicate it was a suicide,” a police spokesperson said.

Eden had arrived in Athens on February 4 for the shooting of the fourth season of the Emmy-winning series, broadcast internationally on Apple TV.

“This is a moment of profound pain for the family, friends, and colleagues,” her company, Donna and Shula Productions, said in a statement.

The firm said rumours suggesting her death was the result of a criminal act or connected to her nationality were “incorrect and unfounded”.

“We ask that Dana’s dignity and the privacy of her loved ones be respected,” the statement said.

The first three seasons of Tehran, which focused on a Mossad agent working undercover in the Iranian capital, were filmed in Athens.

Shooting of the fourth season was delayed after the attacks carried out by Hamas in Israel on October 7, 2023, and the subsequent bombardments of Gaza.

The show has become one of the most internationally sold Israeli productions and won the Emmy Award for Best Drama Series in 2021.

Giant bet

In 2023, Eden and co-producer Shula Spiegel told the podcast Outside the Frame how they had made a giant bet on Tehran.

Drawn to Athens after Eden took a family holiday there and decided it would make a good stand-in for the Iranian capital, the pair applied for and won Greek government funding aimed at drawing international TV and film productions to the country.

But then the coronavirus pandemic hit, delaying on-site production - and their funding - by months.

“I mortgaged my house to produce Tehran and complete the filming,” Eden told the podcast, saying she and Spiegel were “both crazy”, “irresponsibly optimistic” and took “insane risks”.

But the bet paid off when the pair signed with Apple TV in what she said was “a deal on a scale unheard of for an Israeli series until then”.

The series, which stars Niv Sultan, has also featured actors Glenn Close and Hugh Laurie.

Israeli Culture Minister Miki Zohar posted on social media that Eden was “one of the most prominent and influential producers in the Israeli television industry”.

-Agence France-Presse