Norwegian production shingle, Rubicon TV, and producer Anders Tangen have started filming the second season of NRK’s Lilyhammer, Norway’s so far most successful TV series, on locations in Lillehammer and in Oslo studios, with US actor (and guitarist) Stevie Van Zandt in the lead.

 

Van Zandt is back as the New York mobster, Frank 'The Fixer' Tagliano, who has been relocated to Lillehammer by the FBI as part of a witness protection programme, after he has testified against former associates. Once a feared gangster, now an unemployed immigrant in Oppland, sometimes forces him to resort to old and unscrupulous methods.

Van Zandt – or Little Steven, as he is known in Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band – is both lead actor and executive producer (with Lasse Hallberg) for the second package of eight episodes, each 45mins and scripted by Eilif Skodvin, which will air on Norwegian pubcaster NRK from later this year.

 

Newcomers to the cast are UK actors Alan Ford (Snatch), Paul Kaye (Game of Thrones), Amy Beth Hayes (Doctor Who), Norwegian actors Erik Madsen (Da Vinci’s Demons), Jacob Oftebro (Kon-Tiki), Jon Øigarden (The Half Brother), Henriette Stenstrup and Else Kåss Furuseth.

 

Also produced by Rubicon TV for NRK, Lilyhammer 1 had an average 1.1 million viewers per episode in Norway. It was the first original series to launch on Netflix, US provider of on-demand Internet streaming media, which distributed in North and South America (and co-produces No 2). Germany’s Red Arrow International sold to the UK-Ireland, Germany-Austria, France, Benelux, Switzerland, Russia, Australia and New Zealand.

 

“For the first time a Norwegian drama series has excited both Norwegian and international audiences – with charm, authenticity and humour Lilyhammer has surprised the viewers in many countries. Anne Bjørnstad and Skodvin, who created the series, have opened new doors to Norwegian drama,” said programme director Tone Rønning, of NRK.