Viaplay orders first Icelandic original

Scandinavian SVOD player Viaplay’s latest original is an Icelandic drama.

The commission of Stella Blómkvist is the first time MTG-owned Viaplay has looked to Iceland for an original show.

Icelandic TV provider Siminn has local rights, as Viaplay is not distributed in the territory.

The series is based on a bestselling book series from a mysterious and anonymous writer and follows a lawyer hired to defend a low life thug who is accused of killing the prime minister’s beautiful assistant.

Despite initially seeming an open-and-shut case, the eponymous heroine finds herself immersed in a dangerous, high-level conspiracy.

Sagafilm, which is behind series such as Netflix’s Case, has been tapped to produced, with co-developer Red Arrow International set to launch the show at MIPCOM in October.

Jóhann Ævar Grímsson, Nanna Kristín Magnúsdóttir and Andri Óttarsso are writing, with Óskar Thor Axelsson (Trapped) directing, and Heida Reed (Poldark) in the lead role.

“It’s exciting to be a part of building the slate of Viaplay originals with Stella Blómkvist,” said Hilmar Sigurdsson, CEO of Sagafilm. “The series is Sagafilm’s most ambitious project to date and we are thrilled to have Viaplay as our Scandinavian partner in the project, along with Siminn, our local broadcaster in Iceland.”

The show was first pitched at Series Mania 2016 a year ago.

For Viaplay, the series is one of 50 projects it is currently working on. The service’s COO of content, Lina Brounéus, recently told TBI the plan was to commission as many of these as possible, in order to keep development waste to a minimum.