A new Norwegian drama series is in the works: the thriller Valkyrien, which recently received production funding from Nordisk Film & TV Fond.
Norwegian independent production company Tordenfilm AS (Norwegian Cozy) recently received 2.4 million kroner in support from Nordisk Film & TV Fond for Valkyrien (Valkyrie), a new, high-concept series produced for NRK, Norway’s national public broadcaster.
This funding is in addition to the grant of 10 million kroner that Tordenfilm received for the series from the Norwegian Film Institute (NFI) this past January. The total budget for Valkyrien is NOK 63 million ($7.5 million / £4.9 million / €6.8 million).
Set in modern-day Oslo, Valkyrien is part medical drama, part thriller, and part love story. It centers on a doctor who runs an illegal, underground clinic in an old bomb shelter, where he treats criminals, emergency patients, and others who can’t or won’t seek medical help in a regular hospital. His most special patient is his dying wife, whom he treats in secret as he tries to find a cure for the unknown disease that is killing her.
Norwegian actor Sven Nordin (Blue Eyes, Lilyhammer, Torpedo) has been cast to play the doctor in the eight-part series.
Based on an idea by Lars Gudmestad (Headhunters) and Simen Svale Skogsrud (U -Trippel), Valkyrien is co-created by Thomas Seeberg Torjussen (Norwegian Cozy) and Erik Richter Strand (Occupied, Varg Veum), who will also direct. The latter pair pitched the series at the most recent Berlin International Film Festival, where it was picked up by international distribution company About Premium Content (APC).
Richter Strand and Torjussen lead the screenwriting team, which includes Gudmestad and Skogsrud, along with Bjorn Ekeberg (Campingliv) and Kathrine Valen Zeiner (Eyewitness).
Eric Vogel (Norwegian Cozy) and Nina B. Andersson (The Half Brother) are the series’ producers, and Ronnie Fridthjof (Sjit Happens) is the associate executive producer.
Valkyrien is a production of Tordenfilm, in cooperation with Fridthjof Film, with support from the Nordisk Film & TV Fond, NFI, NRK, APC, and Storyline Studios. APC will distribute the series.
Production on Valkyrien began in August, and the drama is slated to premiere on NRK in 2017.
Stay tuned for updates about if/when the series will screen in the US and UK.
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