HBO Max has commissioned its first Finnish original, giving a straight-to-season order for a six-part drama with the working title ID.
Created by Mia Ylönen and Aleksi Bardy of production group Helsinki-Filmi, the new crime drama revolves around Emma, a Finnish art fraud investigator who goes undercover to infiltrate an auction house in Stockholm and investigate the firm’s connection to a notorious money launderer known as “Blanko.” As part of her cover, the calm, professional Emma takes on the identity of Annika, a hot-headed socialite known for her wild party lifestyle. But taking on this new persona forces Emma to confront memories from her past that she has been spending her life trying to forget.
“ID examines questions of identity, morality and personal limits,” said Ylönen in a statement. “We all live in the crosswinds of many identities. There’s the work-me, the private-me, the hero-me of our dreams, the victim-me hurt by the past, the happy and ideal me in social media. Who would you be if you could be anyone? Would you rejoice in the chance to reinvent yourself, even if it meant abandoning your old self?”
Ylönen and Bardy co-wrote the 2018 thriller series Moscow Noir for Scandinavian pay TV group C More. Ylönen was also a co-creator of the 2021 Finnish drama Mädät omenat (Bad Apples). Bardy is well-known as a feature writer, with credits that include the 2020 best-agers comedy Ladies of Steel and the 2017 biopic Tom of Finland about gay erotic artist Touko Valio Laaksonen.
Production on ID is set to begin next year. Ylönen and Bardy are co-creators of the series with Christian Wikander and Steve Matthews executive producing for HBO Max. ID will premiere exclusively on the WarnerMedia-owned streaming service.
The move comes as HBO Max launches in Europe in the first stage of its global rollout. In a virtual event on Tuesday, HBO Max unveiled plans for its European bow, which will kick off in Spain and across the Nordic territories on Oct. 26.
HBO already produces several local-language series across Scandinavia, including the Swedish dramedy Gösta and crime thriller Beartown, the Danish drama Kamikaze, which recently won this year’s SeriesMania television festival, and Norwegian sci-fi crime series Beforeigners.
Source: Hollywood
