Uyanış: Büyük Selçuklu

Uyanış: Büyük Selçuklu (pronounced [ujænɯʃ byjyk seltʃuklu]) or The Great Seljuks: Guardians of Justice in English, is a Turkish historical drama and fiction television series, written by Serdar Özönalan, directed by Sedat İnci and produced by Emre Konuk.^[1] It focuses on the life of Malik-Shah I, and his son, Ahmad Sanjar. It tells the story of the Seljuk Empire's structure, political events and wars. In the series, Sultan Malik-Shah is portrayed by Turkish actor Buğra Gülsoy and Sanjar is portrayed by Ekin Koç.^[2] The television series premiered on 28 September 2020^[3] and it currently consists of one season.

The television series is broadcast on TRT 1

The series was filmed on the "TRT International Film Plateau"^[4] which consists of various locations including Sakarya, Istanbul and Kocaeli.^[5] The opening theme is composed by Turkish musician Gökhan Kırdar^[6] while other music is composed by other Kazakh musicians using instruments from the Turkic world.^[7][8] Even though the television series went through a 13-month preparation time in which every detail was meticulously prepared,^[9][10] Uyanış: Büyük Selçuklu includes a few historical inaccuracies.^[11] In 2021, the production company Akli Film was accused of mistreating its set workers.^[12]

It has been well received in Turkey, being called a "record-breaking television series",^[13] and it has been compared with other television series including Diriliş: Ertuğrul (2014–2019) which became popular globally.^[14] The television series gained popularity due to the casting of famous actors, and it has also become popular in countries like Bangladesh,^[15] Pakistan^[16] and Kyrgyzstan^[17] for it is revolved around history. Uyanış: Büyük Selçuklu itself won the Anatolia Media Awards in 2020^[18] while Konuk won the Crystal Globe Awards in the same year.^[19]