'Otter Dynasty' will follow three clans who right for dominance and access to the finest food, best shelter and safest location to their offspring.
BY KIMBERLY NORDYKE
Discovery has greenlighted a series about three families of otters who live in Singapore’s Marina Bay.
Otter Dynasty — described as an “urban wildlife story” — will focus on the sea creatures, who were once declared locally extinct from Singapore in the 1970s. Today, the smooth-coated otter has since made a comeback, with an estimated 120 otters living in Marina Bay.
Multiple otter family clans are scattered across the island, with just about every group determined to reside there, but the problem is that there’s only enough space in this key location for one dominant family to have access to the finest food, best shelter and safest location to their offspring. The show will document three urbanized otter clans who “fight for their turn to be on top while continuing to adapt to their concrete jungle.” It will follow each clan as they learn that more territory means more challenges. And while they have learned to climb stairs, cross streets, and move up and down ladders to get in and out of vertical canals, they must also maneuver around Singapore’s predatory wildlife.
“Otter Dynasty is a rich family drama showcasing distinct, memorable characters through stories of resilience, determination and family rivalries. With real-life stories from the natural world, fueled by status, survival, power grabs and romance, it’s Game of Thrones with otters,” said Amy Introcaso-Davis, executive vp development and production, factual programming, at Discovery.
The featured clans include the ruling Bay City Clan, described as the 1 percent otter group who lives the royal life of luxury in Marina Bay among Singapore’s futuristic landscapes; the young, up-and-coming River Rebels clan, who have set their sights set on Marina Bay and enjoy a fun-filled life in a fashionable and trendy neighborhood as they raid fishponds and stop traffic every time they cross the city’s busy roads; and The Wildlings, a young clan living a hard but adventurous life in the Mangrove forest where they tough it out against marauding lizards, floods and choppy seas.
Otter Dynasty, which will be available across Discovery platforms next year, is produced by Beach House Pictures for Animal Planet, in association with Blue Ant Media’s Love Nature. Blue Ant International oversees licensing in markets outside of the U.S.
Jocelyn Little and Donovan Chan are executive producers for Beach House Pictures with Jerry Decker is showrunner and Claire Clements is the series’ director. For Discovery, Keith Hoffman is executive producer and Sarah Russell is supervising producer.