HBO Nordic is developing a limited drama series based on the Danish literary classic Pelle the Conqueror, the work by writer Martin Andersen Nexo that was the basis of Bille August’s Oscar-winning film of the same name.
Screenwriter Rasmus Heisterberg, who penned the scripts to the original Swedish version of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and the Oscar-nominated A Royal Affair, will be head writer on the series, The Conqueror, which will be based on volumes 2-4 of Nexo’s magnum opus.
The Conqueror is planned as a eight-hour limited series, should it be greenlit by HBO Europe. Per Fly, the Swedish director of Waltz for Monica, will be the concept director for the series. Bille August’s film, which starred Pelle Hvenegaard and Max von Sydow, was based on volume one of the series. The film won the Palme d’Or in Cannes in 1987 en route to an Oscar win for best foreign-language film in 1989.
SAM Productions, the Scandinavian production group controlled by StudioCanal, will produce the series, headed up by SAM’s Meta Louise Foldager.
Correction June 9, 3.04: An earlier version of this story wrongly stated that HBO Europe had greenlit the The Conqueror. The project is still in development.
