HBO Nordic Orders Sci-fi Original Beforeigners

The first HBO Nordic original project to be ordered from from Norway will be six-part science fiction drama Beforeigners (Fremvandrerne), written by Lilyhammer co-creators Anne Bjørnstad and Eilif Skodvin about travellers seeking refuge from another time.

Two individuals appear in Oslo under mysterious circumstances, but are just the first of many to arrive from the past who seek refuge in our time. However, The main focus of the series takes place seven years later, as the community is transformed by the new arrivals.

Directed by Jens Lien (Occupied), Beforeigners has a budget of NOK 69 million and has been awarded NOK 9.5 million in production support from the Norwegian Film Institute (NFI).

NFI Drama consultant, Silje Riise Næss, told Dagbladet: “With Beforeigners, the discerning serialist HBO has found its first Norwegian project: an incredibly original, smart, entertaining and thought-provoking piece of satirical science fiction.”

“What if people from other times suddenly came to Norway? All practical, logistic, social, absurd and existential aspects of such an integration project have been carefully explored and thought through in this extraordinarily appealing script.”