(Copenhagen) After a break of almost ten years, the Danish political series Borgen returns to Denmark on Sunday, before an international launch on Netflix in the spring to try to renew the unexpected box of Nordic fiction.
Posted at 10:23 a.m.
We had left her heroine Birgitte Nyborg the day after an electoral victory, here she is a decade later Minister of Foreign Affairs in a government led by another woman, ten years her junior.
At the head of Danish diplomacy, a position she already coveted at the end of the third and final season, the heroine of this new season, baptized Borgen — Kingdom, Power and Glory will have to manage the discovery of oil in Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory which believes it holds the key to its independence.
This fourth opus offers completely renewed content from the imagination of its original creator, Adam Price, explains Henriette Marienlund, the head of fiction at Danish public television DR, which developed it.
“Since we said goodbye to Birgitte, a lot of things have changed, she is older, her life is different, her children have grown up and the world is different,” she told AFP.
“More international”
“Even if this season is more international than the previous ones, it remains a very Danish series where we find a lot of the Danish way of life”, notes Mme Marienlund.
And this is the secret of its success, a clever mix of ” hygge “, the inevitably exotic Danish way of life once the Scandinavian borders are crossed and realism with “normal” characters with stewardship problems like everyone else.
” Borgen was commissioned for a Danish audience and its success abroad came as a surprise. But the interweaving between the political scene, personal dramas and the media landscape in a Danish context has also intrigued and fascinated abroad, ”underlines the academic Eva Redvall, specialist in Scandinavian fiction.
” In Denmark, Borgenit’s television for everyone, abroad it’s a subtitled, niche series,” says the researcher.
Sold in nearly 190 markets, Borgen experienced a new life with the arrival of its three seasons on Netflix, which relied heavily on Scandinavian productions.
At the end of 2021, the platform offered some 70 Nordic titles, proof of their continued popularity 15 years after the release of the crime drama’s first season. The Killing.
“What started with Wallander, The Killing, Borgen and The Bridge branched out into new genres”, from romantic comedy Home for Christmas to science fiction with RealHumansemphasizes M.me Redvall.
“Netflix has helped promote this diversity, as they’ve encouraged more people to watch series with subtitles, which was unusual before, especially in the UK,” she says.
According to the platform, nearly two-thirds of its subscribers worldwide watched a Nordic film or series in 2021.
The streaming giant did not specify the date of the release of the eight new episodes, but it will come after the broadcast on DR.
“We can’t wait to share this amazing series”made in Denmark“with fans around the world,” assured the European Director of Acquisitions and Productions, Kai Finke.
In the Scandinavian kingdom of 5.8 million inhabitants, previous seasons have gathered up to 1.6 million viewers.
“The hype is such that many people will probably watch the premiere on Dr Sunday, especially since there is a combination of ‘old’ viewers and a new, younger audience who discovered the series on Netflix and are eager to see the new season, “predicts Mme Redvall.
So far, only one season has been shot. “I don’t know yet if there will be others. It may be the very last, ”slips the head of fiction at DR.