Fifth Season’s banner Nordic Drama Queens and Swedish channel TV4 have unveiled exclusively to Variety the trailer of “Cry Wolf,” (“Vargasommar”), an action thriller starring British musician-turned-actor Eliot Sumner (“Ripley”, “The Gentlemen”), Eva Melander (“Border”) and Henrik Dorsin (“Triangle of Sadness”).
An adaptation of Hans Rosenfeldt’s first solo novel of the same name, “Cry Wolf” is repped at Mipcom by Fifth Season’s global distribution arm, ahead of the show’s world premiere at the Stockholm Film Festival and follow-up launch on TV4 Play on Dec. 25.
Set in the remote northern Swedish town of Haparanda, the story turns on police investigator Hanna Wester, as she makes the macabre discovery of human remains in the stomach of a dead wolf. The remains are soon linked to a bloody drug deal across the border in Finland. Tension escalates in sleepy Haparanda as a professional killer comes to town to recover three valuable bags.
“Cry Wolf”offers a refreshing and unique take on the Nordic Noir genre,” Fifth Season’s president of TV distribution Prentiss Fraser told Variety. “It’s filmed in a small town on the Swedish border with Finland with the characters really driving the story. It’s in the same vein as shows like “Fargo,” keeping the thriller crime genre at its core whilst delving into darkly comedic themes and twists of fate. It’s also adapted by the amazing Oskar Söderlund (“Snabba Cash”, “The Dark Heart”), so audiences can trust he will deliver a gripping, bingeable series.”
“Our intention with ‘Cry Wolf’ was to renew Nordic Noir, and our ambition from day one was super high,” said Josefine Tenglad, one of the three ‘drama queens,’ running the banner with Sandra Harms in Stockholm and Line Winther Skyum Funch in Copenhagen. “We had indeed ‘Fargo,’ as well ‘No Country for Old Men’ as inspirations, and we kept that tone all the way through, with the same director [Jesper Ganslandt] and team, across all six episodes.”
As the first completed series delivered by the three-year old Scandi banner Nordic Drama Queens, “Cry Wolf” is its signature production, pulled off thanks to the backing from TV4, ZDF, Swedish tax incentives, Nordisk Film & TV Fond, Filmpool Nord, and of course, the production banner’s principal partner Fifth Season (formerly Endeavour Content).
A prime example of Nordic Drama Queens and Fifth’s Season’s close creative collaboration was with the casting of Sumner. “We had looked everywhere in the Nordics for the actor to play Kat. Then casting director Pauline Hansson and EIja Skarsgård showed us a picture of Eliot and we felt ‘Yes! That’s it! How can we connect?’” Tenglad said. “Fifth Season put us in touch, and it turned out he had lived in Sweden, was obsessed with it, he knew Swedish and was an admirer of Jesper’s work.”
Financially, having Fifth Season behind also allows the drama queens trio to get a faster greenlight. “We drive the business, they support us, believe in us, are willing to take a risk early, which means we can get an early greenlight,” said Funch, a former CCO and exec producer at Yellow Bird.
For Fraser, Fifth Season’s [early risk] approach “is really backed up by the spate of recent commissions the Nordic Drama Queens has landed.” “Nordic Drama Queens make projects which are natural fits for our slate,” said the global distribution honcho of the CJ ENM Entertainment-controlled group. “Each title offers great talent, a compelling story – sometimes original and sometimes based on literary IP, and a premium viewing experience for audiences all around the world. Historically, Nordic series also have an excellent track record of becoming English-language remakes, making Nordic Drama Queens’ slate a valuable asset for our studio business as well.”
Two other Nordic Drama Queens series – also based on celebrated IP – are near completion and being introduced to buyers at Mipcom.
Ida Engvoll (Love & Anarchy, A Man Called Ove) and Pål Sverre Hagen (Kon-Tiki, Exit) in Blind Spot
Courtesy of Prime Video
The Amazon MGM Studios co-production “Blind Spot” – available in Cannes as a promo, with two completed episodes, is a four-part series, based on Norwegian crime queen Anne Holt’s novel “1222” about detective Hanne Wilhelmsen, investigating a murder in an isolated hotel in a Norwegian ski resort, where a group of people are stuck during a snowstorm.
Emmy-nominated Sara Heldt (“The Crown Princess”) wrote the adaptation alongside helmer Erik Skjoldberg (“Insomnia”, “Occupied”). “Blind Spot” is the perfect “whodunnit’ genre show, and the plot of the original book has been cleverly modernised,” said Fraser who stressed the “visually appealing” mountainous universe.
Serving as main producer, Harms said she had “been interested a long time in the main character. She is smart and she has integrity, combined with wit. “1222” is the eighth book in the Wilhelmsen series and the first one in which Hanne (played by “Love & Anarchy”’s Ida Engvoll) sits in a wheelchair, which gives space for a complex back story.”
“Blind Spot” is due to roll out on Prime Amazon in the Nordics in 2025. Harms said a second season is being developed.”
The third major show, the eight-part “The Scarab Flies at Dusk” (“Tordyveln flyger i skymningen”) ordered by SVT, is being adapted from Maria Gripe’ Swedish literary classic of the same name, as announced by Variety. “We’re super happy to work on family content and are thankful to SVT to back us,” said Tengblad for whom “The Scarab”…was one of her favourite books when she was 10. Norway’s Monster is co-producing the show, served by an A-list ensemble cast including Pernilla August, Lena Endre, Malte Gårdinger and Tomas von Brömssen.
While sitting on around 10 other shows in development – “a great eclectic slate” according to Funch – Nordic Drama Queens has also a series and a feature film in development with Swedish star Sofia Helin as part of a slate first-look deal with the Swedish star.
Looking ahead, the production trio said feature film will be their next big move. Two of them are major international projects partly shot in English and developed in close collaboration with Fifth Season.
“Things are happening; there are new opportunities and we want to grab them when they come,” Tengblad concluded.
