Diriliş: Ertuğrul

Süleyman Şah, Bey of the Kayı sends his son, Ertuğrul, to ask for land from the Emir of Aleppo. This is made almost impossible when the Kayı are put in a series of problems with the Templars after saving Şehzade Numan, Halime Sultan, and Şehzade Yiğit because of the traitor in the Emir's palace, Nasir, who works for the Templars but is later killed by Ertuğrul and the truth is shown to the Emir. A problem also arises with Kurdoğlu, Süleyman Şah's adoptive brother, who seeks his brother's Beylik with the help of Selcan Hatun, Ertuğrul's sister-in-law, who wants revenge from Süleyman Şah as he killed her treacherous father, Alptekin Bey. Ertuğrul, who loves Halime, marries her after much difficulty. Selcan's husband, Gündoğdu becomes jealous of his brother Ertuğrul as he is respected as the tribe hero but gradually calms down. Towards the end of the season, Kurdoğlu is beheaded, Ertuğrul successfully defeats the Templars and captures their castle, and Selcan repents. This is followed by Süleyman Şah's death and the tribe's migration to Erzurum as part of Süleyman Şah's will before he died.

The Kayı, settled in Erzurum, seek refuge with the Dodurga after the Mongols, led by Baycu Noyan, massacre half their tribe. This leads to Ertuğrul facing Tuğtekin, his cousin, who is jealous of him along with Gündoğdu again who is misled by the big threat within the Dodurga; Aytolun and her brother Gümüştekin. Aytolun married Tuğtekin's father, Korkut Bey, so that she could help Gümüştekin become the margrave of all the Turkmen tribes with the help of Emir Sadettin after killing Korkut. Only Selcan is aware of this threat and constantly attempts to warn Gündoğdu, who ignores her for her misdeeds in the past. Along with these schemes, Kocabaş, Tuğtekin's alp who works for Baycu Noyan, turns Tuğtekin against Ertuğrul making their relationship worse but is later killed by Ertuğrul, and his relations with Tuğtekin gradually improves. Aytolun and Gümüştekin are killed after their treachery is caught when Selcan's words are listened to and Korkut is killed. Noyan is supposedly killed by Ertuğrul after the death of Tuğtekin and the tribe is split between 1000 migrating to Ahlat with Gündoğdu and 400 migrating to Western Anatolia with Ertuğrul.

The poor Kayı newcomers face Ural of the rich Çavdar trade-veterans. Although Ural isn't the Bey of his tribe, he seeks more and more power, becoming jealous of the Kayı whenever something good happens to the small tribe. Meanwhile, the Templars who have infiltrated Hanlı Pazar, led by Hancı Simon, seek to kill Ertuğrul as he did to the Templars years back. Ertuğrul defeats Hancı Simon and conquers Hanlı Pazar, leaving Ural more jealous than ever. When Ural is accused of killing the Tekfur of Karacahisar, Andros, and causing problems for the Kayı, Ural is sentenced to death, however, he is saved by the devious Emir Sadettin. After the death of Candar, the Çavdar Bey, and Ural's father, Ural seeks help from the new Tekfur of Karacahisar, Vasilius, who wants to rid the Turks of the land, but is killed by Ertuğrul in an attempt to become the Bey of the Çavdar. When Vasilius attempts to ambush the Selçuk Sultan, he fails and is killed by Ertuğrul. Because of this, the Sultan makes Ertuğrul the Uç Bey angering Emir Sadettin, who vows to end Ertuğrul. At the end of the season, Ertuğrul falls into an ambush set by the new Tekfur of Karacahisar, Ares.

It is believed that Ertuğrul is dead despite the truth being that he is actually captured by some slave traders. Meanwhile, Emir Sadettin convinces Dündar, Ertuğrul's brother and the new Kayı Bey, into selling Hanlı Pazar and moving back to Gündoğdu's tribe but is stopped upon Ertuğrul's return and is forthwith banished. After Ertuğrul's son, Gündüz, is kidnapped, Ertuğrul declares war against Karacahisar and is successful in conquering it. Following Ares' capture, Ertuğrul takes him to the Sultan and tells him to confess to the Sultan about Sadettin Köpek's misdeeds. The plan nearly works but Köpek is saved by the Sultan's wife, Mahperi, and leads to an event turning Ares, later killed by Noyan, into a Muslim. Soon after that, the Sultan is killed and Köpek's increase in power in the palace creates problems for the new Sultan, Gıyaseddin. Gıyaseddin allies with Ertuğrul and with the help of Hüsamettin Karaca, Köpek is beheaded. After this, Ertuğrul faces the return of Noyan but is successful in defeating him and his devious sister, Alangoya, who attempted to kill Ertuğrul's son, Osman, who was born on the same day as his mother's death. Noyan prepares for a battle, historically known as the Battle of Köse Dağ and the Kayı move to Söğüt.

After 10 years in Söğüt, in a Mongol-controlled Selçuk state, Ertuğrul faces many Mongol commanders including Alıncak and Subutai, along with the Selçuk assassin working with the Mongols, Beybolat. Beybolat is disguised with the name, Albastı, and he arrives following the death of his father, Umur Bey, Bey of the Umuroğlu tribe, who was sent to become the new tax collecter of Söğüt. Umur Bey was killed by the disgraced Byzantine commander, Dragos, disguised as the Söğüt Zangoç (transl. bellringer), who seeks to take over the town. Beybolat, who becomes his father's successor, and Dragos, who takes control over Lefke Castle after killing the innocent Tekfur Yannis, cause many problems for Ertuğrul including Beybolat's control over Söğüt for a while. İlbilge, Beybolat's sister, is the only person in her family supporting justice, with her help, Ertuğrul, defeats and kills both Beybolat and Dragos. Following Beybolat's death, Ertuğrul faces Arikbuka, a feared Mongol spy and Alıncak's blood brother, along with the spy, Qiyat, who works for Hulagu against Berke, Ertuğrul's ally and the Han of the Golden Horde. The season ends with the death of Arikbuka and Qiyat along with Ertuğrul's marriage to İlbilge Hatun.

The series proceeds with Kuruluş: Osman which is situated after Ertuğrul goes to Konya and Dündar returns to the tribe. The new series began in November 2019 and focuses on Ertuğrul's son, Osman Bey, the founder of the Ottoman Empire. It currently has one full season with the second season still ongoing as of 2021.

Preparations for season 1 began in February 2014. In five months, the stories and drawings were ready. Gambat from Mongolia had drawings made in three months. The teams started their work in May 2014. The decoration and art team consisted of sixty people and worked for 4 months for the first episode. 4000 square meters of fabric were used for costumes and décor. As for the choreography of the show, Nomad, the special choreography crew of movies such as The Expendables 2, 47 Ronin, and Conan the Barbarian, from Kazakhstan, was invited to Turkey. The crew prepared special choreographies for actors, horses, and other scenes. The cast took riding, sword fighting and archery lessons for 3 months. There were 25 horses on the set, attended by a veterinarian, who specially trained them. All are maintained on a horse farm in Riva. A special area similar to a zoo (but on a smaller scale) was created for all the animals which appear in the show, which include gazelles, sheep, goats, nightingales and partridges. The shooting time of the first episode was about a month. A total of 5000 people were cast for all 5 seasons of the show.

For the series, around 1800 costumes and thousands of war supplies and accessories were made from scratch. The TV series is a milestone in Turkey with respect to its administration of art. Copper and other metallic accessories are accumulated from various parts of Turkey.[11] Nearly everything all over Turkey was 'confiscated', from jewellery to a piece of cloth. Wooden materials were made by hand, one by one.

Season one was filmed around Beykoz and Riva in Istanbul. Diriliş: Ertuğrul set up two plateaus for Riva and Beykoz Kundura Factory for the first season. The plateau in Riva was erected on a total area of 40,000 m² with 35 tents built according to the original. In the Beykoz Kundura factory, Aleppo, Aleppo Palace, supply room, guest rooms, corridors, dungeons, Karatoygar room, Seljuk pavilion, temple halls, and rooms, lodges, and tent interiors were built on a closed area of 6,000 m².[14] In the Kundura factory, the Aleppo Bazaar, the interior of the fortress, the interior of the tent by Süleyman Şah, the dungeon, the corridor, and the altar of the temple were built on an open area of 5,000 m².[15]

The Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, praised the show publicly and recommended people in Pakistan to watch it.[18] Requesting the state-owned Pakistan Television Corporation (PTV) to dub the Turkish series into Urdu and broadcast it on TV, he commented that the series promoted an understanding of Islamic history, culture, values and ethics. PTV secured television rights for the series from TRT, and the first episode was eventually aired in Pakistan on the first day of Ramadan (24 April) on PTV Home in 2020.[23][24][25][26]

The show is called Ertugrul Ghazi in Pakistan,[27] and was noted to be a major success there particularly due to Khan's recommendation, and also partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic quarantine. PTV's YouTube channel for the series had gained over 5 million subscribers as of June 2020.[28][3][4][29] According to PTV, the series in Urdu had acquired a viewership of over 130 million people as of mid-May,[30] and as of September, its subscribers crossed 10 million.[31] 25 per cent of the series Youtube audience overall in the world is from Pakistan.[32] Several of the actors expressed gratitude for the attention from Pakistani fans, Engin Altan Düzyatan and Esra Bilgiç adding that they would like to visit the country.[33][34]

In Pakistan, media has expressed concern that the series is yet another foreign import, like Bollywood.[1][35] Pervez Hoodbhoy added that the series portrays Islam as violent and may increase Islamophobia.[36][21] Jibran Nasir says that Diriliş: Ertuğrul is creating an identity crisis among Pakistanis.[21]

The series is also quite popular with Indian Muslims and in Jammu and Kashmir[19] where people see it as inspiration to their freedom struggle despite internet shutdowns.[37] A Kashmiri public relations professional said "Every Kashmiri must watch it. A small tribe of 2,000 people triumph. It's inspirational. If you have a goal and the will to achieve it, nothing can come in your way."[37] Abhinav Pandya, author, compares Diriliş: Ertuğrul's success in India with that of the Israeli drama Fauda, saying that "Just as Fauda fandom signals the shift of India's influencers towards a more militant and exclusionary nationalism, the Ertugrul craze is a signpost written for the alienation of many of India's 180 million Muslims from that dominant political culture and their search for solidarity elsewhere. "[38]

On 10 February 2020, Diriliş: Ertuğrul was banned in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Egypt's Dar al-Ifta al-Misriyyah announced it was forbidden to watch the series. It also targeted Turkey's President Erdoğan in a statement, stating that his intention was to restore the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East and restore sovereignty over the Arab countries that had previously been under Ottoman rule.[39] Despite the ban, the series remained quite popular in these countries.[5]

Some journalists have commented on the series political agenda. Hüseyin Topel says that Diriliş: Ertuğrul is more effective than any other TRT series at conveying aspects of the government agenda, and that the AKP government messages in the series increased as the show grew more popular.[40] Selim Aydın also names the series as one criticized for being a mouthpiece of the government.[41]