The six-part series based on Mikael Niemi’s award-winning best-selling novel will be adapted by Jesper Harrie, Nordisk Film & TV Fond Prize nominated in 2017 for The Bonus Family.

The Swedish series To Cook a Bear (Koka Björn) is being produced by Miira Paasilinna, Martin Persson and Mia Welin at Anagram Sweden for The Walt Disney Company Nordic & Baltic.

Set in the summer of 1852 in the village of Kengis, Northern Sweden, the series follows the young Sami boy-Jussi and his mentor, the newly appointed revivalist Pastor, as they investigate multiple-killings of young girls.

While the villagers believe a predatory bear is responsible for the deaths, the Pastor who is an avid botanist and reinvents himself as a forensic expert, finds traces that point to another direction.

Mikael Niemi’s book published in Sweden in 2007 received the 2021 Petrona Award for Best Scandinavian Crime Novel and was sold to more than 20 territories including Penguin for the US, MacLehose Press for the UK and Stock for France.

“It will be exciting to follow the Sami boy Jussi and his meeting with the great revivalist Pastor and see their fight against the evil ravaging the Northern wilderness. We get to follow a story about cunning and courage, but also about man's longing for both divine and human love,” said Niemi, whose earlier best-selling book Popular Music from Vittula was turns into a feature film by Swedish/Iranian Reza Bagher.

Meanwhile seasoned Swedish screenwriter Jesper Harrie, said his ambition with the series isn’t just “to create a crime in a historical setting”, but also a drama, with the key character Jussi, “searching for his identity, home, and future.“

Commenting on the US streamers’ first Nordic Original series, Vibeke Lia, Director of Programming & Production, The Walt Disney Company Nordic & Baltic said “To Cook a Bear has everything we want to offer our adult audience: a deep, rich story set in a truly grand Nordic Noir scenery. I am confident it will find its way to the hearts of audiences in and well beyond the Nordics, and we can’t wait to bring it to them.”

Speaking to nordicfilmandtvnews.com, Anagram Sweden CEO Miia Paasilinna said: “We are very excited to produce Disney+’s first Nordic original series, and we feel that there couldn’t be a better project than Mikael Niemi’s intriguing book ‘To Cook a Bear’.”

“Once we read the book, we knew immediately that this was a story we wanted to produce. It’s a real page turner, a mystery which gives an insight into our Nordic cultures. We feel that Jesper Harrie is the perfect fit as a screenwriter, and we can’t wait to see his words take visual form.”

Newen Studios’ majority-controlled Anagram has enjoyed a massive critical and audience success with SVT’s The Thin Blue Line S1&S2 and its latest Norwegian thriller show Ammo launched on TV2 Norway in October, received 4 stars in several local media outlets.

Disney+ which launched in September 2020 in the Nordics, intends to commission 60 local productions by 2024 across the EMEA region. The US streamer boasts around 1.7 million subscribers in the Nordics (as of spring 2022).