HBO Max sets 2026 launch for Alper Çağlar’s “İlk Göktürk”

The production written and directed by Alper Çağlar will meet the audience on HBO Max in the spring of 2026. The cast includes Volkan Keskin, Arif Diren, Murat Serezli, Esra Kılıç, Gaziza Tanşolpan Tleubay, Sungho Choi, Mert Öcal, Selçuk Gülderen, Burak Koçoğlu, Ehsan Saberi, Tan Altay, Ahmet Aytaç, Efe Öcel, Dulguun Odkhuu, Şira Sahilli, Cansel Elçin and Hakan Karahan.

The leading actors featured in the Prologue episode of the series — Volkan Keskin, Esra Kılıç and Murat Serezli — spoke to AA about the film and their characters, CE Report quotes Anadolu Agency.

Young actress Esra Kılıç, who plays the character “Aybala,” said: “Aybala becomes a cold-blooded killer and a 17-year-old steppe assassin after experiencing very difficult things at a very young age. Then she embarks on a journey with her uncle, where we see her transformation and inner discovery.”

Kılıç said that she first heard about the project about three years ago and added: “When I first saw the drawing of Aybala, I thought, ‘I will probably play her.’ We were already in talks. After they shared the script, we agreed. I’ve been part of the project for a while.”

She emphasized that filming conditions were tough: “Shooting a period piece is not easy. We have action scenes, weather changes, extreme heat, and challenging costumes. But despite everything, it’s going well.”

“I took archery, horseback riding and Göktürk history lessons”

Actor Murat Serezli, recognizable with his prosthetic makeup, said he first heard of İlk Göktürk in April 2021.

He explained how Çağlar presented the script to him in a unique way — sending music to accompany reading and asking him to read it uninterrupted. “I was so moved that I cried at the end,” he said. “It was extraordinary. I immediately said yes.”

Serezli noted that the project has been ongoing for four years: “For three years I grew my beard, my hair grew down to the middle of my back. I took archery lessons, 60–70 horseback riding lessons, Göktürk history and language lessons, sword lessons. We rehearsed and started filming last year. Then it was paused, but we’re finishing it this year.”

He also described the intense prosthetic process that took 2.5–3 hours a day last year and now about 1.5–2.5 hours.

Serezli said the most exciting part is portraying a much older character — a wise, multilayered figure acting as storyteller, healer, spiritual guide and advisor.

“We are telling the story of the first Turkic state to use the name ‘Turk,’ the founding of the Göktürks in 550–551. That is exciting. I play a kam, showing the shamanic, pre-Islamic belief system of the Turks.”

“Time feels expanded here”

Lead actor Volkan Keskin said he first met Çağlar in May 2024: “I was initially in talks for Mete Kaan, and then suddenly I became Bumin Kaan. It was a surprise.”

He added: “It’s been an intense process. Everything moved very fast. My perception of time has expanded here.”

Keskin said the project is very different in terms of filming technique and atmosphere.

About the film

The plot of İlk Göktürk – Prologue is as follows:

“After centuries of serving the Avars as slaves following the Turks’ independence from China, Bumin has resigned himself to his fate as a blacksmith. But after being betrayed by the Avar king, his long-suppressed desire for freedom is reignited. The uprising he begins with his brother İstemi and their mentor Alagar becomes the epic tale of a nation breaking its chains and returning to the stage of history.”