Gustav Skarsgård toplines Disney+’s Swedish series To Cook a Bear

NOTE: This article is a republication- Source: Nordisk Film & TV Fond (by Annika Pham).

The first Nordic Original from the US streamer has started filming for production company Anagram Sweden.

The six-part series is a true Nordic creative collaboration throwing in seasoned Swedish screenwriter Jesper Harrie (The Bonus Family), Norwegian director Trygve Allister Diesen (The Third Eye, Wisting) and a stellar ensemble cast including Gustav Skarsgård, newcomer Emil Kárlsen (who played to Cook a Bear at the Sami National Theater in 2022) Ane Dahl Torp, Tyra Wingren, Magnus Krepper, Pernilla August, Simon J. Berger, Jonas Karlsson, Johan Widerberg, Jaakko Ohtonen and Tobias Zilliacus.

Based on the best-selling novel by Mikael Niemi, the series is set in the summer of 1852, in the village of Kengis, Northern Sweden. The story turns on the young Sami boy Jussi (Emil Kárlsen) and his mentor, the newly appointed revivalist Pastor (Gustav Skarsgård).

While Kengis is struck by a series of murders of young girls, and the villagers set out in search of a killer bear that they believe is ravaging the area, the unlikely investigating duo - the Pastor and the young Sámi boy - team up to uncover the truth behind the dramatic events.

The series is produced by Mia Welin for Newen-owned Anagram Sweden, with Anagram’s Miira Paasilinna and Martin Persson serving as executive producers, next to The Walt Disney Company Nordic & Baltics’ Nanna Mailand-Mercado. The show is supported by Business Finland, with Helsinki-filmi handling the Finnish post-production on behalf of Anagram.

According to S&P Global Market Intelligence’s global estimates for 2022, Disney+ which launched in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland in 2020, had a 7.7% market share in the Nordics last year.