2024 Rewind: Have You Met the 'Escort Boys?'

This piece is part of EDGE's 2024 Rewind series. We're reaching into our archives and sharing some of our favorite stories from the past year.

The new French series – Amazon Prime's major investments in that country – dropped internationally late last month and may have gone under the radar in the holiday onslaught, but with its beefcake titular characters, it is well worth a look.

As reported by Variety, "Escort Boys" is a half-hour comedy series that "portrays four young men who become escorts to make ends meet and save their family business in a picturesque town in Southern France. Their experiences rock their pre-conceived ideas about romantic love, female sexuality and masculinity, as well as the relationship between men and women."

Six episodes of the series are available to watch on Amazon Prime. Watch the 90-second trailer (in French) below:

The series is the French adaptation of the Israeli show "Johnny and the Knights of Galilee" ("Milk and Honey"). "Highlighting the country's changing gender power dynamics with an eye-candy cast and grown-up jokes," writes Variety, " 'Escort Boys' looks to build on an interesting momentum as France experiences its most divisive #MeToo moment ever around iconic actor Gerard Depardieu's downfall."

One of the show's producers Charlotte Toledano-Detaille explained to Variety that getting the show on the air hasn't been easy. "I was in charge of development at Lagardere Studios. In the middle of a flood of spy dramas and counter-terrorism thrillers, I saw the trailer for this show with four men naked riding horses and I thought, 'Oh, what is that!?' And then I watched the series, and what struck me is that beneath the surface it says a lot of meaningful things. But it wasn't an easy sale, the project was turned down by many producers!"

After securing producers, Toledano-Detaille developed the series, which was on track until the pandemic occurred and it was put on hold. "After the lockdown and all those restrictions tied to the pandemic, it felt like the right time to revisit the project," explained Toledano-Detaille.

Asked by Variety if men would watch the show, co-producer Myriam Gharbi-de Vasselot said, "I think it's a rare show that men and women enjoy watching together." Toledano-Detaille added: "At first, we assumed it was a series primarily for female audience, but one thing we noticed is that guys who watch it generally want to become part of the band of escort boys. It strikes a chord to see men talk about sexuality and their feelings."

She continued: "I'm curious to see how American audiences will react to it. But I think they will be delighted to see four sexy French men. Look how popular Lucas Bravo became from his role in 'Emily in Paris.' In 'Escort Boys,' we have four handsome guys and there's one for every taste."

Playing the clients of this service are actresses Amanda Lear, Carole Bouquet, Zahia Dehar, Caterina Murino, Pascale Arbillot, Kelly Rutherford, and Rossy de Palma.