Icelandic producer Grass River has teamed up with ZDF Studios-owned Network Movies on the crime drama series Arora, based on Lilja Sigurdádóttir’s internationally best-selling novel Arora Investigations.
Network Movies has optioned all five books in the series (“Cold as Hell,” “Red as Blood,” “White as Snow,” “Dark as Night,” and “Deep as Death”) and is developing an adaptation with Grass River.
The partnership brings together one of Iceland’s most active script producers and a German company with extensive experience in crime dramas, literary adaptations and international co-productions.
Network movie credits include the long-running procedural series “Murder Up North,” “In Other Circumstances,” “Helen Dorn” and “The Trace,” as well as the pan-European crime series “The Team” and the feature film adaptation “The German Lesson.”
Set in Iceland and London, the series tells the story of Arora, a tough fraud investigator with Icelandic roots who returns to her hometown to find her missing sister. What begins as a family mission quickly expands into a broader criminal investigation as he teams up with potential lover Daniel, an Icelandic police detective, to uncover corruption, betrayal, and violence beneath Iceland’s rugged terrain.
“We are excited to partner with Network Movies to bring Áróra from the page to the screen,” said Andri Ómarsson, CEO of Glassriver. “This series is a truly international project, bringing together the best talent from across Europe, with stories that unfold in Iceland and the UK.”
Ømarsson said Sigurdárdóttir’s ability to combine “compelling characters, suspense and a strong sense of place” gives Arola a “unique international appeal”.
Network Movies Managing Director Bernd von Fehrn and Executive Producer Moritz Meem described Arlo’s character as a “charming heroine” and praised the novel for “weaving together a complex criminal case with the complex private lives of the main character and his family.”
“Novels are ripe for adaptation,” they added. “We are delighted to have found the ideal partner in the Glassriver team for this very special project.”
Sigurðardóttir also collaborated on the adaptation of Grasliver’s Reykjavík Noir trilogy and previously co-wrote an episode of Netflix’s Icelandic supernatural drama Katla.
An Áróra Investigation’s novels have sold more than 800,000 copies and secured publishing deals in English, French, German and Arabic markets, as well as in Sweden, Finland and Estonia, according to the producers.
“Arola” joins Grass River’s expanding literary crime film oeuvre, which includes “Elma,” based on the novel by Eva Björg Egisdóttir, and “Conrad,” based on the detective series by Arnaldur Indrisason. The development lineup also includes “Manifesto” and “Reykjavik Noir.”
