The first day of Frankfurt Book Fair saw Netflix announce the production of a new series based on Fredrik Backman’s Anxious People. The series will be produced by FLX, the production company behind the adaption of Malin Persson Giolito’s Quicksand. The series will be directed by Felix Herngren, creator and director of Bonus Family. Screenwriter is Camilla Ahlgren, head writer of The Bridge and Quicksand. Executive producers will be Fredrik Backman, Neda Backman and Tor Jonasson.

Jens Lapidus’s Top Dog is set to become a television series on the Nordic streaming service C More and on Swedish TV4, featuring the internationally acclaimed leading actors Josefin Asplund (Sanctuary, Vikings) and Alexej Manvelov (Chernobyl, Before We Die). Directors are Molly Hartleb and Alexis Almström. Almström is also one of the script writers of the series.

Top Dog the TV series is based on bestselling Swedish author Jens Lapidus’s books The VIP room, Stockholm Delete and Top Dog. Lapidus has also written the novel Easy Money, which was turned into a film and achieved great international success following its premiere in 2010.

The new TV series will center on the clash between the ambitious business lawyer Emily Jansson and the ex-con Teddy Maksumic. A mysterious disappearance brings the odd couple together. Emily wants nothing more than to secure her future and career, while Teddy wishes to leave his old life of crime behind him. The pair are forced to reconsider their priorities and their view of each other when the past catches up with them, shattering their dreams and casting a shadow of doubt over all that they think they know.

Top Dog the series will premiere in 2020.

Director Alexis Almström’s creative journey began with music. Under the artist name “Alexis Weak” he released his first and last album Till minne av. The album became an immediate success, was nominated for a Grammis and praised by the music press.

Just as his music career reached its peak, Almström made the decision to pursue his true calling and use his talent for storytelling in filmmaking. In 2015, Almström graduated from the highly respected Stockholm Academy of Dramatic Arts with the feature film Pink Cloud Syndrome as his graduation work. Pink Cloud Syndrome was positively received by the industry and showcased Almström’s ability to work closely with actors to emotionally affect and capture an audience.

Since his graduation, Almström has been simultaneously developing his own pieces and working on projects with other screenwriters. He is the director of four episodes of the anticipated TV series Top Dog, which is based on Jens Lapidus’ bestselling trilogy The VIP Room, Stockholm Delete and Top Dogg. The series will premiere in 2020.

Tarik Saleh is the director of Thunder Road Films’ new action thriller, Violence of Action. The film sees Chris Pine in the lead role as James Harper who, after being involuntarily discharged from the Green Berets, joins a paramilitary organization in order to support his family in the only way he knows how. Harper travels to Berlin with his elite team on a black ops mission to investigate a mysterious threat. Barely into his first assignment, he finds himself alone and hunted across Europe, where he must fight to stay alive long enough to return home and uncover the true motives of those who betrayed him.

Chris Pine is joined by actors Ben Foster (Hell or High Water) and Gillian Jacobs (Community), and the script is written by J.P. Davis. The film has begun principal photography in the US, Germany and Romania.

Read more in Deadline Hollywood by clicking “Read More” below.

To see Salomonsson Agency’s catalogue for Fall 2019, click the “Download our latest catalogue” link further down on the right-hand side of this page.

Niklas Natt och Dag’s 1794 comes in at No. 1 in both hardcover and e-book also this week, additionally grabbing the No. 3 spot on the audio list. Natt och Dag’s first novel, The Wolf and the Watchman, is No. 3 in paperback, and No. 5 in e-book.

Stefan Ahnhem’s X Ways to Die nabs multiple spots on the lists as well, coming in at No. 3 in hardcover and in e-book. Lars Kepler meanwhile grabs the No. 1 spot on the paperback list with Lazarus.

Wisting, co-starring The Matrix and Jessica Jones’ Carrie-Anne Moss, has been acquired by BBC Four in the UK. The Norwegian hit series is based on the best-selling novels The Caveman and The Hunting Dogs by Jørn Lier Horst, and co-created and written by director Trygve Allister Diesen and Kathrine Valen Zeiner.

“Wisting has already been a tremendous success in the Nordic countries, and we have no doubt that BBC viewers will be equally engaged by such a likeable, emotionally complex lead character, and a compelling plot full of twists and turns.”
-Sue Deeks, head of BBC program acquisition.

To read more about the acquisition in Variety, click “Read more” below.

The Swedish bestseller lists for the month of September see Lars Kepler dominate the paperback list, coming in at No. 1 with Lazarus. The just published second novel by Niklas Natt och Dag, 1794, debuts on the monthly lists by claiming two No. 3 spots, one the hardcover list, one on the audio list. The novel also features at No. 4 in e-book. Jørn Lier Horst meanwhile grabs the No. 5 spot with The Cabin.