End of Summer becomes Viaplay Original drama series
June 29, 2022
Viaplay will become the first streaming service to adapt the bestselling work of Swedish crime writer Anders de la Motte for the screen. The psychological thriller ‘End of Summer’, based on de la Motte’s hit novel of the same title, will premiere exclusively as a Viaplay Original in 2023 with a cast to be revealed in due course. Björn Carlström (‘Jägarna’) and Stefan Thunberg (‘Wallander’) are the head writers for ‘End of Summer’, which is directed by Jens Jonsson (‘Young Wallander’) and Henrik Georgsson (‘The Bridge’) and produced by Harmonica Films, with SF Studios and Film i Skåne as co-producers.
On a summer’s evening in 1984, a five-year-old boy vanishes in rural southern Sweden. The police investigation fails to find the truth, leaving behind rumours, suspicion and a grieving family. Twenty years later, the boy’s older sister Vera is leading a group therapy session in Stockholm, when a young man describes a strangely familiar childhood memory of a disappearance. A shaken Vera travels home to her fractured family to uncover, once and for all, what really happened in the summer that never ended.
Anders de la Motte commented: “It’s incredibly exciting that ‘End of Summer’ will become a TV series. I’ve worked on this with Harmonica Films for a long time, and with Viaplay we’ve now made it happen. ‘End of Summer’ is my first book to be filmed, and for personal reasons the story is very close to my heart. I’ve read the script and seen the cast list, and I’m very confident that this will be something really special.”
Filippa Wallestam, Viaplay Group Chief Content Officer, added: “Anders de la Motte’s novels have thrilled readers in more than 30 countries – and his compelling blend of suspense, psychology and character development will translate beautifully to the screen. The talents on both sides of the camera for this project are exceptional. Viewers across the Nordic region and internationally can already add ‘End of Summer’ to their calendar as one of the highlights of Viaplay’s incredible slate for the coming years.”
Filming of the six-part series will begin shortly in and around Helsingborg in Sweden. ‘End of Summer’ (Swedish title: ‘Slutet på sommaren’) is produced by Harmonica Films’ Per Janérus, with Tim King at SF Studios and Helena Larand at Viaplay Group as executive producers. Worldwide sales are handled by Viaplay Content Distribution.