Breaking News: Six season TV-series for Jorn Lier Horst's William Wisting - from the man behind Wallander

Award-winning Sandstone author Jorn Lier Horst has partnered with Cinenord and the Danish production company Good Company Films to bring Chief Inspector William Wisting to life. The series will be based on the five novels which Sandstone Press has published: Dregs, Closed for Winter, The Hunting Dogs, The Caveman and Ordeal, plus the novel preceding Dregs. The budget is estimated to be around 100 million kronor, roughly £8 million.

 

Ole Sondegard of Good Company Films is the man behind both the British and Swedish version of Wallander, the Millennium trilogy and the Beck series. Recording will begin in late autumn of 2017, and the character of William Wisting has yet to be cast. ‘The finished series will have English subtitles, and will be sold internationally. Lier Horst is already an internationally bestselling author. The Wisting series has been sold to 25 countries, and has sold over 1 million copies in Norway alone.

 

Jorn Lier Horst says, ‘There are good people who are going to work with this. I look forward to seeing William Wisting come to life.’ The series will be a character-driven thriller with Wisting in the center, aided by the police team. Central to the series is also the relationship between William Wisting and daughter Line, who works as a criminal reporter. Lier Horst has been praised for his detailed and credible portrayal of both the police and of journalism. Key to the series is a sense of place: ‘It is important that action takes place in Larvik Stavern area of Norway. The place is a character in itself,’ says Lier Horst.

Sandstone Press Managing Director Robert Davidson says, ‘I am thrilled to hear this news about the William Wisting Series. Not only is Jorn Lier Horst one of the hardest working authors in the business, and one of the most talented, he is also a supremely decent guy. We have been working with Jorn, and his Norwegian publisher Gyldendal, and translator Anne Bruce, for five titles now and all of these will be dramatised. The viewing public has a great treat in store, as has the reading public whose attention is going to be drawn to the amazing writing of Jorn Lier Horst even more strongly.’

 

Sandstone Press holds World English Language rights for their five Jorn Lier Horst titles. Ordeal has been sold to St Martin’s Press in North America and agreement has been reached with Affirm Press for all five titles in ANZ. Sandstone Press is represented by David Segrue Ltd.