Viaplay goes ‘Below’ for next Norwegian Original

• Maria Austgulen (Viaplay’s ‘Made in Oslo’) stars in dark comedy-drama
• ‘Below’ created by Tina Rygh (‘Sigurd Can’t Get Laid’) and directed by Siri Seljeseth (‘Young and Promising’)
• Viaplay to premiere at least 70 Originals in 2022

The latest Viaplay Original from Norway is the dark comedy-drama ‘Below’, starring Maria Austgulen (Viaplay’s ‘Made in Oslo’) as a young woman whose life is turned upside down by a traffic accident. Acclaimed screenwriter Tina Rygh (‘Sigurd Can’t Get Laid’; ‘Basic Bitch’) makes her debut as a creator with the six-part series, which is directed by Siri Seljeseth (the Golden Screen winner ‘Young and Promising’) and will premiere exclusively on Viaplay this autumn.

After a night out, Fanny (Maria Austgulen) is involved in an accident that kills her best friend Kurt and leaves her paralysed from the waist down. Fanny is forced to move in with her sister, having avoided her since childhood, all the time longing to return to her fourth-floor apartment and her old life.

Tina Rygh: “I wanted to make a series about people in crisis – it’s a fruitful starting point for painful, intimate and embarrassing encounters. But Fanny doesn’t fit the template of someone who’s supposed to be grieving. In a sense she rejects the situation, at the same time as she can’t escape it. It’s so great that Viaplay have seen the same comic and tragic potential in this story.”

Filippa Wallestam, Viaplay Group Chief Content Officer: “This sharp and quirky show challenges your expectations at every turn. It takes on complex themes through a multi-layered character – and the more Fanny pushes away everything around her, the closer you’re drawn to her. Our latest addition to Viaplay’s Norwegian slate has the makings of a huge viewer hit, both locally and internationally.”

‘Below’ (Norwegian title: ‘Nede’) is produced by Bård Fjulsrud and Aurora Bjørnhaug at Monster Scripted, with Tanya Nanette Badendyck as executive producer for Viaplay Group. The series is distributed worldwide by Viaplay Content Sales.

Viaplay’s recent Norwegian scripted commissions include the dystopian drama series ‘The Fortress’, the crime drama ‘Fenris’, season three of ‘Pørni’ and the World War II film ‘Gold Run’, Viaplay’s first feature-length production in Norway.

About Viaplay Originals

At least 70 Viaplay Originals are set to premiere in 2022. Upcoming Originals include ‘Thunder in My Heart’ season two; ‘Live Life’; ‘There's Something Going On’; ‘It Could Have Been Us’; ‘Threesome’ season two; ‘R.S.V.P.’; ‘The Fortress’; ‘The Hunt for Jasper S.’; ‘Liv Ullmann: The Road Less Travelled’; ‘Those Who Kill’ season three; ‘Face to Face’ season three; ‘The Meaning of Life’; ‘Something Stupid’; ‘The Guilty’; ‘Stockholm Bloodbath’; ‘Delete Me’ season two; ‘Boys’; ‘The Dreamer – Becoming Karen Blixen’; ‘Fenris’; ‘Gold Run’; ‘Last Light’; ‘Cell 8’; ‘Elvira’; ‘North Sea Connection’; ‘Limbo’; ‘Litvinenko’; ‘Karma and Jonar’; ‘Ronja’; ‘The Uninhabitable Earth’; ‘Polish Murderesses’; ‘Black Dog’; ‘Freedom of the Swallow’; ‘Honour’ season three; ‘Pørni’ season three; ‘Hilma’; ‘Who Shot Otto Mueller?’; a biopic of Börje Salming; ‘Fadime’; ‘Taylor’s Island’; ‘What about Monica’; ‘THE KINGDOM EXODUS’; ‘Estonia: The Last Wave’; ‘Stella Blómkvist’ season two; ‘The Swarm’; ‘Perfect People’; and ‘Margeaux’.

Two major English-language films will be produced by Viaplay every year. The company has also established a UK-based joint venture with FilmNation Entertainment and invested in US studio Picturestart.

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NOTES TO EDITORS

Viaplay Group AB (publ) is the international streaming challenger. Our Viaplay streaming service is available in every Nordic and Baltic country, Poland, the US and the Netherlands, and we are expanding rapidly by launching in the UK in 2022, followed by Canada, Germany, Austria and Switzerland in 2023. Viaplay will have a market presence in at least 21 countries by the end of 2023, including at least five partner markets for the Viaplay Select branded content concept. Every day, millions of customers enjoy our unique entertainment offering, including acclaimed Viaplay Originals and an unrivalled line-up of premium live sports. From streaming to TV channels, radio stations and production companies, our purpose is to tell stories, touch lives and expand worlds. Viaplay Group is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm (‘VPLAY B’).

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