The 8x45’ series is based on the novel The Devil’s Sanctuary by Marie Hermansson. 

The psycho-thriller is produced by Sweden’s Yellow Bird in co-production with Italy’s Fabula and Germany’s Tele München Gruppe. Studiocanal Handles global distribution. 

Josefin Asplund (Vikings, Call Girl) plays the double role of twin sisters Siri and Helena who have been separated as children, because of their conflicting differences. When Helena several years later receives an invitation from Siri to visit her at the beautiful Himmelstal sanatorium in the Alps, her stay rapidly turns into a nightmare when she realises that Siri has disappeared and the sanatorium is in fact a research clinic doing experiments on psychopaths. As staff believes she is the manipulative, violent Siri, Helena has to change behaviour to survive.

US actor Matthew Modine (Stranger Things, Full Metal Jacket) who plays the director of the sanatorium says: “Mistaken-identity films are fantastic. In one of my favourites, Being There, the central character, portrayed brilliantly by Peter Sellers, proves that success in Washington isn’t due to intelligence but rather the lack of it. North by Northwest, The Big Lebowski and The Great Dictator are also brilliant examples of this genre.” He continues: “In Sanctuary, Josefin Asplund finds her character caught within this mistaken-identity spiderweb. Surrounded by psychopaths and trapped inside the institution that houses them, Josefin’s character must convince the doctors that she is the sanest person in the story.”

Sanctuary is directed by Iceland’s Óskar Thór Axelsson (I Remember You, Trapped) and Italy’s Enrico Maria Artale (The Third Half). The series is produced by Yellow Bird’s Marianne Gray and executive produced by CMore/TV4’s Ulf Synnerholm, Fabula Pictures’ Marco de Angelis and Enrico de Angelis. The premiere on CMore is set for late spring 2019.