The series “The Disappeared of the Black Forest”, of which TF1 is broadcasting the last two episodes tonight, was initiated four years ago under the title of “Valkyries”. And it was not Hélène de Fougerolles who was to play Camille Hartmann at that time.
Two years after saying goodbye to the character of Hélène Bach in Balthazar, Hélène de Fougerolles is back on TF1 for the purposes of the series Les Disparus de la Forêt Noire, in which she plays opposite Grégory Fitoussi (Engrenages), Tchéky Karyo (Les Fighters), Thierry Godard (Le Temps est assassin), Natalia Dontcheva (Unfaithful) and Victoria Eber (Para//èles).
Produced by Nagui and created by Julien Vanlerenberghe and Stéphane Pannetier, to whom we owe the Canal+ Infiniti series, Les Disparus de la Forêt Noire transports us not far from the Franco-German border, to the heart of the Black Forest and the binational military base, where 12 bodies were found in a mass grave.
All the victims are men, both French and German, and some murders were perpetrated almost thirty years ago. This macabre discovery, which seems to be the work of one and the same serial killer, will come to revive memories that Camille Hartmann, an outstanding examining magistrate, believed to be buried. What if this whole affair had something to do with the car accident that turned his life upside down a year ago and caused him to lose his memory?
Alexandra Lamy was to play the heroine of the series
If Hélène de Fougerolles, who had a lot of trouble shooting one of the scenes of this thriller in four episodes, proves to be excellent in the skin of the heroine, she was not the first choice of the production and of TF1 to carry this series which, originally, was to be called Valkyries.
It is indeed the actress Alexandra Lamy who should initially embody Camille Hartmann, as Nagui confided to Télé Star at the end of 2018: “We are supposed to be filming next spring and it’s for TF1. Apart from Alexandra Lamy, the actors have not yet been chosen. But we have a title: Valkyries”.
Alessandro Clemenza/TF1 / JC Lother/Version Originale/Condor Hélène de Fougerolles replaced Alexandra Lamy in the role of Camille Hartmann.
Renamed The Forest of the Disappeared, then The Disappeared of the Black Forest, the series was finally shot only from November 2021 in the Strasbourg region and in Germany. That is more than two years after the date initially announced by Nagui at the time.
This delay in the production of the series certainly explains the departure of Alexandra Lamy, who has not been idle since 2019 and has notably distinguished herself in Le Test, Le Sens de la famille and Belle-Daughter.
Fans of Alexandra Lamy impatient to find her in a series will however be happy to learn that she will soon be in the credits of Killer Coaster on Prime Video, alongside her sister Audrey Lamy and her daughter Chloé Jouannet. A family affair that promises with its pitch based on a killer that rages in a carnival.