Endless Love
Kara Sevda number 1
Genre	Drama Romance
Written by	Özlem Yılmaz Burcu Görgün Toptaş Anil Eke
Directed by	Hilal Saral
Starring	Burak Özçivit Neslihan Atagül Kaan Urgancıoğlu Orhan Güner Neşe Baykent Zeyno Eracar Rüzgar Aksoy Barış Alpaykut Hazal Filiz Küçükköse Burak Sergen Zerrin Tekindor Melisa Aslı Pamuk Gökay Müftüoglü Ali Burak Ceylan
Composer	Toygar Işıklı
Country of origin	Turkey
Original language	Turkish
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	74
Production
Producer	Kerem Çatay
Running time	113–158 minutes
Production company	Ay Yapım
Original release
Network	Star TV
Release	14 October 2015 (2015-10-14) – 21 June 2017 (2017-06-21)

Endless Love (Turkish: Kara Sevda, literal translation Dark Love) is a Turkish drama series produced by Ay Yapım and broadcast on Star TV between 2015 and 2017.^[1] Directed by Hilal Saral, it stars Burak Özçivit, Neslihan Atagül and Kaan Urgancıoğlu.

The series has become a milestone in the international history of Turkish series, receiving the International Emmy Award for Best Telenovela in 2017,^[2][3][4] and becoming the first Turkish series to win the award.^[5][6]

Similarly, Kara Sevda received the special jury award at the Seoul International Drama Awards.^[7]

Four years after the end of Kara Sevda, the series was awarded as The Best International Soap Opera at the Soap Awards France 2021.^[8] Burak Özçivit and Neslihan Atagül were the only Turkish actors nominated for Best International Actor and Best International Actress, respectively.^[9][10]

According to Can Okan, founder and CEO of Inter Medya, the international distributor of the series, "words are useless when talking about the success of Kara Sevda".^[11][12] It has become one of the most watched Turkish series in the world,^[13] being broadcast in more than 110 countries with successful audiences and has been translated into more than 50 languages.^[12]

During its broadcast in the United States through Univision, it became the most watched foreign soap opera and the Turkish series with the highest audience. Kara Sevda remains the most watched series in Hispanic prime time, with more than 2 million viewers every day, and close to 4 million in its final episode.^[14]

Such has been the overwhelming success of the series that in the Wax Museum of Tashkent City Park in Uzbekistan, two figures of Kemal and Nihan are exhibited,^[15] the main characters of the series, in the part dedicated to Istanbul.

Kara Sevda's YouTube channel accumulated almost 3 billion views, being one of the most viewed Turkish series on the platform.^[16]

Plot

Kemal Soydere is the son of a middle-class family; Nihan is the daughter of wealthy socialites Önder and Vildan Sezin, and also has a twin brother Ozan whom she loves dearly. Önder's business is slowly falling apart, and unable to give up her luxurious life, her mother Vildan pushes Nihan to marry Emir Kozcuoǧlu, who's infatuated with her. But Nihan is appalled at the idea as she despises Emir, perceiving him as ruthless and arrogant.

In his last year in mining engineering, Kemal meets Nihan when he helps her buy a bus ticket. The pair fall hopelessly in love at first sight and Nihan completely changes Kemal's monotonous life. Despite the class difference between them, they manage to be together. That is, until Emir stages an accident that results in Ozan killing a girl. To prevent Ozan from going to jail, Nihan agrees to marry Emir. The next day, she goes to meet Kemal at the port where he proposes to her; in tears, Nihan sadly turns down his marriage proposal and ends their relationship. Heartbroken, Kemal leaves Istanbul and goes to Zonguldak to work in the mines. He isolates himself in his work and one day, following his actions to help in an accident at the mine, Kemal is promoted and assumes a position of power in the company. Five years later, Kemal decides to return to Istanbul to face his past.

Cast and characters

Production

Kara Sevda has been shot entirely in the city of Istanbul, Turkey, with the exception of the mine explosion scene from the first episode, which was shot in Zonguldak. Some of the places where the series was filmed are:

• Üsküdar: Here is the neighborhood where Kemal Soydere's parents Fehime and Hüseyin Soydere live.
• Beşiktaş: In one of its neighborhoods, is where Leyla lives.
• Yeniköy: In this village, Nihan Sezin lives with her parents and also with Emir Kozcuoglu.
• Acibadem Universities: Part of this university became "Kozcuoglu Holding", the company of Emir and his father.

Awards and nominations