Vikingane Goes Global As Norsemen On Netflix

Norwegian six-part comedy Norsemen (Vikingane), which was simultaneously filmed in both Norwegian and English, has been picked up by Netflix for release in late July 2017. It won Best Comedy at the Gullruten Awards this year.

Norsemen, created by Jonas Torgersen and Jon Iver Helgaker, is said to be a cross between Monty Python and Game Of Thrones. Set in the year 790, a Roman named Rufus is kidnapped and taken as a slave to the Viking village of Norheim. He was a cultural figure in his homeland, but finds that the values ​​he brings with him don’t impress the Vikings.

The idea of bilingual recordings is not new, but the success of Welsh noir detective drama Y Gwyll (Hinterland) in building an audience on the BBC, Netflix and American Public Television, certainly underlines the potential for this approach.

Producer, Anders Tangen, told Dagbladet: “We hope this solution sets a standard in Norway for some type of dramas. We have others where we are considering doing the same. The purpose is to make the job of selling the series abroad easier. We avoid the cumbersome process of making the series again, and Norwegian actors get to show themselves off.”

Norsemen premieres globally on Netflix in late July, and the streaming service has an option to pick up the second season, which has already been filmed.