Endemol Shine North America adapting Scandi crime drama The Truth Will Out

Banijay-owned Endemol Shine North America (ESNA) is developing an English-language version of Swedish crime drama The Truth Will Out, with director and producer Joe Berlinger signing up to helm the project.

Joe Berlinger

Berlinger, whose credits include HBO’s Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills and Ten Days That Unexpectedly Changed America, is set to direct and executive produce the project.

The adaptation is being produced by Banijay-backed Swedish production label Yellow Bird, which is behind shows such as Millennium Trilogy, Young Wallander, Rebecca Martinsson, Headhunters and The Truth Will Out.

Launched in 2018, the original version of the show set ratings records on Sweden’s Kanal 5 and was also an international hit for Viaplay and Amazon Prime. It is based on an original idea by author and criminologist Leif GW Persson and is written and created by Aron Levander and Hans Jörnlind.

The Swedish show is a coproduction between Yellow Bird, Viaplay and Discovery Sweden and stars Robert Gustafsson (The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared) as a Stockholm police detective with a history of mental instability who leads a newly formed cold case unit.

When an unknown killer leaves a message for the police stating that Sweden’s most notorious serial killer is actually a fraud, the team works to uncover the truth but immediately finds itself at odds with the powerful group of people who had the original killer convicted in the first place

The remake marks the second time Berlinger has partnered with ESNA chief content officer Sharon Levy, with the pair previously having produced the Spike TV miniseries Gone: The Forgotten Women of Ohio.

“Joe is a celebrated filmmaker and true force in television that I greatly admire and someone I’ve been wanting to collaborate with again for some time now,” said Levy.

“He brings unmatched expertise in telling stories where crime and law intersect and this sensational series from our colleagues in Sweden is the perfect project for us to reunite on.”

Berlinger’s other credits include the Netflix unscripted series Conversations With a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes, which he directed and produced, and a scripted feature film covering similar ground, Extremely Wicked. His other credits include Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich, Crime Scene and The John Wayne Gacy Tapes.