Gyllenhaal on board HBO Nesbø drama

Premium US cablenet HBO has greenlit limited drama series The Son, starring and executive produced by Jake Gyllenhaal.

Jake Gyllenhaal (Photo: Georges Biard)

The series is based on The Son, from New York Times number one bestselling author Jo Nesbø, which is described as a tale of vengeance set amid Oslo’s brutal hierarchy of corruption.

Denis Villeneuve will direct and executive produce with writer Lenore Zion showrunning and executive producing, alongside Kilter Films’ Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy. Nine Stories’ Riva Marker and Kilter Films’ Athena Wickham will also executive produce.

The commission was announced today by Francesca Orsi, exec VP of HBO Programming, who said: “Jonah and Lisa are a formidable creative force and we are excited to collaborate with them again, alongside the brilliant Lenore, to adapt Jo Nesbø’s novel.

“Denis is a master at weaving visually exquisite and unique narratives, Jake is a gifted actor and producer whose work often traverses provocative and compelling terrain, and, of course, he and Denis have collaborated brilliantly in the past. We are beyond excited to see how this powerhouse team tackles this exceptional work.”

Bold Films’ David Litvak, Gary Michael Walters, Michel Litvak and Svetlana Metkina also serve as executive producers with Nesbø and Niclas Salomonsson. Nine Stories Productions, Kilter Films and Bold Films will produce in association with Warner Bros Television.

Kilter Films is a Los Angeles-based production company founded and run by Joy and Nolan. Nolan is a critically acclaimed Academy Award- and Emmy-nominated writer, director and producer known for his work on The Dark Knight, Interstellar and Memento with his brother Christopher.

Gyllenhaal and Marker founded Nine Stories in 2015. The company has a first-look deal with New Republic Pictures. Bold Films, founded in 2004, is an independent entertainment production and finance company.