Here's when Akshay Kumar will finally kickstart the shoot of his Amazon Prime Video series

Akshay Kumar brought more Bollywood star power to the Red Sea International Film Festival this week, and the popular actor and producer sat down with Deadline to talk about how his long-awaited series with Amazon will start filming next year.

The actor kept details of the project under wraps but told the international publication that the script was finished and the title, formally announced as The End, would change, with plans to begin shooting sometime next year. The project marks Akshay’s first foray into the streaming-series arena, and, he said, it’s more on the science fiction side of things with a lot of action in it.

The actor is known for hits like Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, Padman, and Airlift. He just finished filming Selfiee, a remake of the 2019 Malayalam-language comedy-drama Driving Licence, as well as Startup, which is about the founder of Air Deccan, India's first low-cost airline.

Akshay, who said he rarely produces a film that he doesn’t act in, has produced 32 films across the last 15 years. He noted that while both Bollywood and Hollywood’s theatrical businesses are feeling the pinch of the post-COVID-19 world, it is up to the industry to be smarter and work harder to get audiences back into theaters.

The actor thinks they have to try much harder than they used to earlier; they have to try harder to get them out. He added that it's their fault. They need to know what they want and stop blaming the audience for everything, because a lot of people have blamed the audience and are saying they don’t want to come out, but Akshay thinks it’s their turn to please them and bring them out.

While he’s welcomed the streaming platforms in India, he stressed that India is still an untapped territory when it comes to growth in that area. According to Akshay, India has 1.5 billion people, and Netflix, Amazon, Disney, and ZEE5—all digital platforms—have captured only 10 to 12% of the market. The market in India is huge.