Finnish public broadcasting company YLE and German production-distribution company Beta Film have joined the creator of Finnish Netflix series Bordertown, Mikko Oikkonen, for his new Nordic limited series thriller Helsinki Syndrome, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The show will be presented to buyers by Beta at the MIPTV television market, which starts Monday.
Peter Franzén (Vikings) stars as Elias Karo in the eight episode limited series. Elias, having had his life ruined by “corrupt bankers and government officials,” kidnaps four journalists and wants them to expose three people in high places that caused Elias to lose both his father and his family fortune, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The series, which is set to start production in June, is influenced by the Finnish banking crisis of the 1990s and imagines future financial fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Variety.
Juuso Syrjä, who directed some episodes of Bordertown, is returning to direct Helsinki Syndrome. Fisher King, a Helsinki-based division of Beta’s Scandinavian production companies, is set to produce the series.
Beta’s director of their Nordic studios division, Justus Riesenkampff, said the series is “a strong contemporary thriller that will be attractive for buyers worldwide,” according to Variety.