Lilyhammer creators pen salmon industry drama for Netflix

The team behind the Netflix television comedy-drama Lilyhammer are to make a drama series set in the salmon farming in Norway.

Lilyhammer creators Anne Bjørnstad and Eilif Skodvin and production company Rubicon will return to Netflix for the series which has the working title Lakseøya (Salmon Island).

“In Salmon Island we meet two families in a small coastal community in Norway, who are sworn enemies in the global salmon industry. The series, which taps into the contemporary zeitgeist, delivers a funny as well as dramatic portrait of the fish farming business,” said Netflix in a press release.

Glad to be back

Bjørnstad and Skodvin said: “Over the last few decades, fish farming has changed both the Norwegian coast and international food culture. The time feels right for a television drama about the operators in the industry, and it’s amazing that a global streaming service like Netflix has the guts to tell such a locally grounded story.

“We’re pleased to be back with Netflix again after ten years and we can’t wait to start filming.”

Marit Moum Aune, who will direct the series, is one of Norway’s foremost directors, both for the stage and the small screen.

“We have collaborated with her on several stage shows, and we’re thrilled that she wants to make this series with us,” said Bjørnstad and Skodvin, who have created and written Salmon Island.

Lilyhammer starred actor and musician Steven Van Zandt as New York mobster Frank Tagliano, who goes into hiding in rural Lillehammer in Norway after testifying against his former associates. Van Zandt, a member of Bruce Springsteen’s E-Street Band, also starred in HBO mafia drama series The Sopranos.