Jon Michelet’s Hero Of The Seas To Be Adapted For TV

One of Norway’s highest earning authors, Jon Michelet, is to have his epic series of books about war sailors translated for TV by NRK, entitled Hero Of The Seas. Jarl Emsell Larsen (Eyewitness) is on board to direct, and will write the first episode.

The first book in the series, En sjøens helt, was published in 2012 and so far the four volumes about war sailors have sold 623,500 copies in Norway alone, topping the bestseller lists for four consecutive years.

The story follows Halvor Skramstadseter who joins a merchant ship as a boy in December 1939 only to find that it is part of the Norwegian war effort.

Producer John M. Jacobsen says that the first season of the drama will follow the plot of the books up to a third of the way through the second book, but has no plans beyond that:

“We have not scheduled more than one season. This is so big and complicated that we first need to see how practical it is… what it will really cost.”

“(It) will probably have a budget of well over 100 million. That is, of course, a huge financing task, but the writing is so fantastic that we expect the pieces fall into place.”

Filming is expected to begin in 2018.