George Kay has swapped the boulevards of Paris and the French master thief in “Lupin” for the streets of Stockholm in “Blood Sacrifice,” whose five episodes will be released on Netflix on August 20.
Jakob Oftebro plays police officer Thomas, who reluctantly enlists the help of his father, retired investigator Alfred (Peter Andersson), to catch a serial killer who murders police officers on a certain day of the week.
"Not 'pk' directly"
Father and son must work together even though their relationship has been strained for many years and although the father was forced to leave the police force early.
"There are two men who are supposed to work together, but they have so much they should have said to each other that they haven't. They haven't spoken out," explains Jakob Oftebro.
"The father is not exactly 'pk', if you say so. And he has lost a bit of weight," Peter Andersson adds.
Stockholm and Sweden are an important part of the story, George Kay believes. Nowadays, many series and films set in Sweden are shot in the Baltics or Eastern Europe to save money, but Kay insisted that the series be shot here - and the plot is set during midsummer, with the long, bright nights as an important ingredient.
It was important to take advantage of what is special about Stockholm, the long, bright nights and other culturally specific things, says Kay.
Nordic noir
George Kay has long been a big fan of Nordic noir and wanted to do something in Sweden. Swedish series are among the Netflix productions that "overperform" in terms of viewership and attract large audiences across large parts of the world. When series are dubbed or subtitled, it matters less that Swedish is such a small language, Kay believes.
George Kay wrote the script in English and then the dialogue had to be translated into Swedish.
We got our info through the producers and through the director we were in contact with. Since then, George has been a driving force throughout the editing process, says Peter Andersson.
George Kay highlights the Swedish co-writer Aron Levander. He was the one who ensured that the script was “Swedishised”.
He found the right tone that made it feel believable, but still kept the essence of what I wanted to convey. Instead of just translating it, because that's when it risks losing quality, says Kay.
George Kay is an English screenwriter who, in addition to the Netflix series "Lupin", has also written "Suspicious" (SVT) and "Hijack" (Apple TV). This fall, his drama series "War" will be coming to HBO Max.
Norwegian actor Jakob Oftebro played the title role in SVT's drama "Stenbeck" last year. He also played Jan Guillou's agent in the series "Hamilton" on C More/TV4, 2020–2022.
Peter Andersson is one of Sweden's most acclaimed actors, best known from the stages at the Dramaten and Kulturhuset Stadsteatern in Stockholm. In film, he has appeared in "If I Turn Around", "Men Who Hate Women" and "Happy End".
