Whiskey on the Rocks coming to Disney+
November 26, 2024

Whiskey on the Rocks, a political satire inspired by real events, is the first Nordic Original series to premiere on Disney+ in select countries (and Hulu in the US) on January 22nd 2025. All six episodes will be released at once.
The series is the latest project from the team behind the celebrated Swedish film The 100- Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared, and is a coproduction between Swedish national broadcaster SVT and The Walt Disney Company Nordic & Baltic.
In the early hours of October 28th 1981, a Soviet nuclear Whiskey class submarine was spotted aground inside a restricted Swedish military area. The world teetered on the brink of disaster. With global superpowers on edge, the eyes of the world turned to Sweden’s calm and collected prime minister, Thorbjörn Fälldin, a former sheep farmer, who faced the immense challenge of keeping peace between Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev and US President Ronald Reagan.
“The true story behind Whiskey on the Rocks is both dramatic and absurd, and something we felt would work very well as political satire. The ambition was to use a visual and suspenseful language to contrast and enhance the humor, in a way you rarely see in comedies. Then when it shifts into true suspense we are already in that visual world. And although the events in the series happened more than 40 years ago, looking around the world today, it is frighteningly topical,” commented director Björn Stein.
Whiskey on the Rocks stars Rolf Lassgård, Elsa Saisio, Anders Mossling, Niklas Engdahl, Filip Berg and Adam Lundgren. Also starring is Lithuanian actor Kęstutis Stasys Jakštas as Leonid Brezhnev and British actor Mark Noble as Ronald Reagan.
“We are very happy to have partnered up with SVT and Humanoids on Whiskey on the Rocks. Bringing the first Nordic production to Disney+ is incredible. The series is a testament to the richness of our stories, the talent of our region, and the global appeal of Nordic storytelling. We can’t wait for audiences around the world to experience the alternate version of what happened outside Karlskrona in 1981,” added Vibeke Lia, Director Programming and Production, The Walt Disney Company Nordic & Baltic.
The series is based on a story by author Jonas Jonasson, who had his breakthrough with the successful novel The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared. Henrik Jansson-Schweizer is the series’ screenwriter. The director is Stein, and the producer is Jan Marnell
In Sweden, the series will be air on SVT1 over the festive period.