EXCLUSIVE: Viaplay will debut scripted shows Rebus and Ronja the Robber’s Daughter in the U.S. in November.
Both shows were Viaplay originals that were sold after the streamer retooled last year in a face of financial challenges, and now come to Viaplay’s U.S. service through Viaplay Content Distribution.
Rebus stars Richard Rankin (Outlander) in the title role as the gruff Scottish detective. Set in Edinburgh, the crime thriller reimagines the John Rebus character as a younger Detective Sergeant, drawn into a violent criminal conflict that turns personal when his brother Michael, a former soldier, crosses the line into criminality.
It will debut on Thursday, November 7, with all six episodes available via the Viaplay U.S. service, which is distributed through third-party platforms.
The show launched on BBC One in the UK earlier this year and did solid linear and streaming numbers. Originally produced by Eleventh Hour Films for Viaplay’s Scandinavian service, the series comes from Gregory Burke (Entebbe) and is directed by Niall MacCormick (Complicit) and Fiona Walton (Shetland). The BBC had initially developed the reboot, before it transferred to Viaplay in 2022 after a UK service launched. However, once Viaplay had pulled out of having a direct-to-consumer service in the UK, it ended up back with the BBC.
Fantasy drama Ronja the Robber’s Daughter Season 1 follows on Thursday, November 21, again with all six episodes dropping on that date.
Written by Hans Rosenfeldt, who created Nordic noir series The Bridge and ITV-Netflix co-production Marcella, the show is based on the adventure novel from Swedish author Astrid Lindgren, who is behind the Pippi Longstocking novels and has sold more than 165 million books worldwide. Season 1 will be available both subtitled and dubbed in English. Filmlance International led production on the show.
Similar to Rebus, the show was initially meant for Viaplay’s D2C services, but was shopped on the international market after the streamer put several original shows on hold and attempted to recoup spend through distribution. Netflix was one buyer, taking rights in the UK, France, Spain, Nordics, the Netherlands and most of Central and Eastern Europe. The big-budget Scandi show’s first season reached Netflix’s Top 10 in 15 countries including France, the Nordics, Poland & the Netherlands and was a #1 TV series in Sweden.
The coming-of-age story follows the adventures of a young girl born into a band of robbers set in and around a fortress in medieval Scandinavia. As Ronja grows up, she braves the mystical forest teeming with both enchanting and fearsome creatures like the wile-wings and gray dwarfs. When Ronja befriends the young boy Birk from a rival gang of robbers, a vicious family feud ignites.
Gerald Biart, Viaplay Group, VP Partnership, Growth & Marketing, said: “We’re thrilled that US audiences have been embracing Nordic storytelling and signing up to stream the very best in Nordic and European series and films on the Viaplay U.S. streaming service. In celebration, we’re excited to bring them two of Viaplay’s biggest series ever with the November US debuts of Rebusand Ronja, the Robber’s Daughter. From the gritty, visceral action of iconic Scottish detective Rebus to the remarkable fantasy world of Ronja, these two series exemplify the very best on television.”
Further Viaplay U.S. launches include Swedish drama All and Eva tomorrow; the first of eleven Max Verstappen docs on October 14, Max Verstappen: Off the Beaten Track; Kaspar Munk’s contemporary family drama Secrets on October 24 and Anna Friel and Peter Stormare psychological thriller On the Box on October 31.
The Viaplay U.S. streaming service is available as an add-on subscription on Prime Video Channels, The Roku Channel, Sling TV, XUMO, and Comcast Xfinity.
