The first episode of Lilyhammer Season 2 reached a 51.9 % share of 12+ viewers when it debuted on NRK1’s primetime slot on Wednesday October 23 and negotiations are almost locked for a third season to be written again by show-runners Eilif Skodvin and Anne Bjørnstad for production outfit Rubicon TV and co-producers NRK and Netflix.
According to Norway’s pubcaster NRK, 922,000 viewers or almost one in every five Norwegians watched the first of eight episodes featuring Frank ‘the fixer’ Tagliano (aka Steven van Zandt) under witness protection in Lillehammer. “Over a year ago the very first episode had 1,035,000 viewers so it’s really good to reach 922,000 today. This means that the fans are back for more,” said NRK chief analyst Kristian Tolonen to nrk.no.
Thanks to the success of Season 1 (supported by Nordisk Film & TV Fond) that averaged a million viewers and sold to over 150 territories via Red Arrow International, Rubicon TV produced another eight episodes with a budget twice as big (NOK 62 million or around €7.6 million) carried for the most part by co-producers NRK and Netflix. Rubicon was thus able to raise the quality of the show with more special effects, an international cast comprising Paul Kaye (Game of Thrones), Alan Ford (The Long Good Friday), Amy Beth Hayes (Mr Selfridge) and some filming in New York.
US star actor and rock guitarist Steven van Zandt - (pictured) executive producer of the show - has also played a bigger role in Season 2 by writing the entire music score and episode 8. “The first episode of Season 2 was viewed as darker and more violent than the original show, but the next episodes will bring in more comedy and action,” said producer Anders Tangen to nordiskfilmogtvfond.com.
The third season of Lilyhammer should get the go ahead this month and a tentative start of production has been set for January 2014. “Netflix is increasing its commissioning of original TV shows and more international producers are competing to get them on board. We were lucky to be the first ones to close a deal with them back in 2011. Now they want to continue with us so we really can’t wait. After their Emmy wins for House of Cards, their plan is to deliver more high quality original TV drama and we share this vision. We want to show that in Norway we can deliver high quality Nordic TV drama for international audiences,” stressed Tangen.
Lilyhammer Season 2 will premiere on Netflix in the US on December 13, 2013.