ZDF boards Dramacorp thriller Hamilton

ZDF in Germany has joined as a coproducer on the forthcoming adaptation of Jan Guillou’s Hamilton novels, which is being made for Bonnier Broadcasting-owned TV4 and C More in Sweden.

Josefine Tengblad

Hamilton is being produced by Dramacorp-Pampas Studios, a recently formed joint venture from Patrick Nebout’s Dramacorp and Rolf Sohlman’s rights outfit IRLC.

Bonnier has ordered two 10×44′ seasons of the spy thriller, which was first revealed at C21’s Content London event in 2016.

The show focuses on a Swedish intelligence officer who trains with the US Navy and then becomes part of an illegal black ops cell within the Swedish military.

Dramacorp-Pampas Studios said the “contemporary reimagining” of the IP would be “a high-concept, character-driven drama presented in serialised form.”

The drama will be set in Sweden and numerous other countries and combine local languages with a central English narrative.

Filming will start in the second quarter of 2018, with the show slated to premiere exclusively on Swedish streaming service C More in 2019.

It will then be broadcast on Bonnier’s linear network TV4 and ZDF in Germany, with sales arm ZDF Enterprises taking German-language rights. Beta Film has taken global sales rights and is attached as a coproducer. The German distributor’s owner, Jan Mojto, partnered with Nebout to launch Dramacorp in 2016.

The show is being directed by Denmark’s Kasper Barfoed (Below The Surface), with a writers’ room led by Petter S Rosenlund (The Heavy Water War, aka Saboteurs). Zoula Pitsiava (Blue Eyes) is producing the series.

Josefine Tengblad, head of drama at C More and TV4, said the show’s international setting “has the potential of taking a renowned and well-loved Scandinavian brand to a new level.”

Jens Alex, CEO at Dramacorp–Pampas Studios, added: “This is the first time Hamilton is to be adapted into a longform serialised format and we are already planning for further seasons.”

Over the past 25 years, a number of theatrical features and miniseries have been based on the Hamilton books, including the 1989 and 1992 movies starring Stellan Skarsgård (River).