The deal was announced yesterday in Cannes by the global distributor.

Based on an original idea by Sophia Helin, the crime thriller Honour (Heder) is the first full creative collaboration between Helin, and her Swedish colleagues Alexandra Rapaport (Mother Goose/Gåsmamman) Anja Lundqvist (Alex), Julia Dufvenius (Modus) who also act as executive producers.  The latter three lead the cast together with Eva Röse.

The story tells of four partners in a law firm whose reputation is suddenly at stake. As they start to receive a string of sinister threats, they understand that someone is about to unveil a terrible secret that they have spent 20 years trying to cover up. The eight-part series is co-directed by Richard Holm and Manuel Concha for Bigster. The premiere on NENT group’s streamer Viaplay is set for the fall 2019.

We caught up in Cannes with Alexandra Rapaport, Julia Lundqvist and Eva Röse.

This was your first experienced as co-creators on a TV drama. How was it and what did it mean for you?   
Julia Dufvenius: For me it was extremely important. I’ve been longing for such an opportunity and to work with Alexandra, Anja and Maria.  In the past, I’ve played several great roles in very emotional parts, and it was hard for me ‘just’ to act, not to be allowed to react.

Eva Röse: I was invited to join Anja, Julia and Alexandra when the script was already there, so I didn’t contribute as much to the story. However, what was unusual is that as soon as I was cast, I was invited to discuss my character, the overall plot. It was refreshing for me to have a say. Usually, I feel that my opinions are in the way.  This experience has been very inspiring.

Alexandra Rapaport: I had more experience in being in charge of my shows as I was executive producer on Gåsmamman. Here, I got the opportunity to be involved from the very start and to experience how hard it is to create an interesting plot. We’re all experienced in creating characters, but creating a plot that will engage audiences over eight episodes, with an exciting ending, was new to us. We all took a much greater responsibility for our own parts, as well as for all characters. We wore our exec-producer’s hat at the same time as our usual acting hat, and worked closely with the directors and Birgitta [Wännström] our producer.

JD: We discussed the costumes, make-up, even the colour of our hair. It was a constant feeding of ideas.

AR: I love Sex and the City and actually we pitched the show to our financiers as Sex and the City Meets The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. But this is a series about women in control, not talking about their love interests but actively involved in defending abused women. We also explore the shapes of grey in the narrative - who is the predator and who is the victim? Can you be both?

Honour is based on a real life law firm. How much research did you do to prepare for your roles and to bring life to believable characters?
JD: We talked to lawyers, journalists, we read books and did a lot of research for two years.

How do you feel about the drama boom in general and new opportunities offered to female acting talents?
ER: It opens new doors and allows us to be braver. Feature film is a narrower area in terms of storytelling, but long-form narrative gives us the opportunity to tap into new creative areas.  More and more colleagues seem to embrace this trend.  I’m actually working right now as executive producer and co-writer of a new Maria Wern series.

JR: I’m working on another series but we’re hoping to get season 2 of Honour greenlit as well.

Has a returning season been confirmed by Viaplay?
AR: It’s in development. Besides that I’m doing a fourth season of Gåsmamman. We’re all encouraging our friends doing feature films, to expand their range of work.