Starz lands Monster deal for NRK thriller

Monster follows the hunt for a serial killer in Norway

US cablenet Starz has bought the US pay TV rights to Norwegian drama Monster from UK distributor DRG.

Commissioned by pubcaster NRK in Norway, the 7×60’ serial killer thriller was created by lead writer Hans Christian Storrøsten and director Anne Sewitsky.

Set in the northern Norwegian landscape, it follows the police hunt for a suspected killer after a brutal murder unearths a mass grave, linking old murder cases to missing people.

The show is exec produced by Lasse Greve Alsos (Mammon, Eyewitness) from NRK’s in-house drama department. He is due to leave the broadcaster in October to join Modern Times Group-owned production outfit Monster Scripted.

Monster is due air in October in Norway (NRK), Denmark (DR) and Sweden (SVT). NRK retains terrestrial rights in Scandinavia while DRG has all other rights in the region, plus worldwide rights outside of the region.

The show has already been picked up by SBS (Australia), Canal+ (France) and RTS (Switzerland), and licensed by distributor Lumière Group for Benelux. Nordic streaming service Viaplay has acquired SVoD rights for Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden.

Starz has ramped up its drama of late, having announced the development of action-drama Black Samurai at the end of August.