''Valkyrien'' (

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

: ''Valkyrie'') is a 2017 Norwegian TV series first broadcast by

NRK1 NRK1 (pronounced as ''"NRK en"'' or ''"- ein"'') is the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation's (NRK) main television channel. History Test broadcasts started on 12 January 1954, regular test broadcasts started on 13 April 1958 and regular broadca ...

. The series combines elements of the " Scandi noir" school of television with medical drama,

crime drama Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combin ...

and "a palpable sense of the paranoia induced by operating on the edges of society", drawing favorable comparisons with

AMC AMC may refer to: Film and television * AMC Theatres, an American movie theater chain * AMC Networks, an American entertainment company ** AMC (TV channel) ** AMC+, streaming service ** AMC Networks International, an entertainment company *** ...

's '' Breaking Bad''. It was named after the closed metro station Valkyrien in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population ...

Premise

Surgeon Ravn Eikanger becomes furious when his supervisors do not allow him to test experimental medical procedures on his dying wife. In desperation, Eikander fakes her death as an apparent suicide and brings her to a makeshift clinic in the abandoned subway station

Valkyrie In Norse mythology, a valkyrie ("chooser of the slain") is one of a host of female figures who guide souls of the dead to the god Odin's hall Valhalla. There, the deceased warriors become (Old Norse "single (or once) fighters"Orchard (1997: ...

. He is aided by Leif Lien, a paranoid

prepper Survivalism is a social movement of individuals or groups (called survivalists or preppers) who proactively prepare for emergencies, such as natural disasters, as well as other disasters causing disruption to social order (that is, civil disord ...

, who allows Ravn stay hidden if he operates an underground hospital where those who do not trust the Norwegian health care services can seek help.

Cast and characters

* Sven Nordin as Ravn Eikanger – a brilliant surgeon who has become disillusioned and embittered after colleagues refused to allow his terminally ill wife to undergo an untested experimental treatment. *

Pål Sverre Hagen Pål Sverre Valheim Hagen (born 6 November 1980) is a Norwegian stage and screen actor. He is perhaps best known internationally for playing Thor Heyerdahl in the Oscar and Golden Globe nominated film ''Kon-Tiki''. Early life and education Pål ...

as Leif Lien – a "

doomsday prepper Survivalism is a social movement of individuals or groups (called survivalists or preppers) who proactively prepare for emergencies, such as natural disasters, as well as other disasters causing disruption to social order (that is, civil disord ...

" and a Chief Technical Officer with the Sivilforsvaret—Norway's

civil defence Civil defense ( en, region=gb, civil defence) or civil protection is an effort to protect the citizens of a state (generally non-combatants) from man-made and natural disasters. It uses the principles of emergency operations: prevention, mit ...

agency—responsible for the security and maintenance of a network of Cold War-era bunkers beneath Oslo. * Pia Halvorsen as Vilma Eikanger – Ravn's wife, a neuroimmunologist working to develop a bacteriophage for use as an antibiotic in humans. * Ellen-Birgitte Winther as Unn Vikebø – a former colleague of Ravn and Vilma at the

Oslo University Hospital Oslo University Hospital ( no, Oslo universitetssykehus; OUS) is a university hospital in Oslo, Norway. With over 24,000 employees it is the largest hospital organization in Europe. It is affiliated with the Faculty of Medicine of the University ...

. *

Mikkel Bratt Silset Mikkel Bratt Silset (born 1991) is a Norwegian theatre, television, and film actor from Oslo best known to international audiences for his role in the Netflix series ''Norsemen (TV series), Norsemen''. Life and career Silset began acting as a c ...

as Teodor "Teo" Naustvik – Leif's friend, wanted by the police for his part in a bungled bank robbery and on the run with NOK 62 million (

EUR The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens ...

6.7 million;

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

7.8 million;

GBP Sterling (abbreviation: stg; Other spelling styles, such as STG and Stg, are also seen. ISO code: GBP) is the currency of the United Kingdom and nine of its associated territories. The pound ( sign: £) is the main unit of sterling, and t ...

6 million). * Gine Cornelia Pedersen as Marit Naustvik – Teo's pregnant wife. *

Laila Goody Laila Elin Goody (born 22 March 1971) is a Norwegian actress. She was born to an English father who worked in the oil industry and a Norwegian mother. She was born in Stavanger and grew up in Rosendal, Hordaland between the ages of two to ten, ...

as Grethe – the head of Vilma's research team at Oslo University Hospital. * Ameli Isungset Agbota as Siv – Vilma's daughter. *

Joachim Rafaelsen Joachim (; ''Yəhōyāqīm'', "he whom Yahweh has set up"; ; ) was, according to Christian tradition, the husband of Saint Anne and the father of Mary, the mother of Jesus. The story of Joachim and Anne first appears in the Biblical apocryphal ...

as Per Olav – a police officer determined to track down Teo. * Svein Harry Schöttker Hauge as the prison guard.

Episode list

Series 1 (2017)

Remake

Mark Strong Mark Strong (born Marco Giuseppe Salussolia; 5 August 1963), is a British actor, best known for his film roles such as Prince Septimus in ''Stardust'' (2007), Archibald in '' RocknRolla'' (2008), Lord Henry Blackwood in ''Sherlock Holmes'' (20 ...

stars in a British remake of Valkyrien set in London named

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

which first aired on Sky One in the UK in September 2019 and was produced by Hera Pictures.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 5170828, Valkyrien NRK original programming 2010s Norwegian television series Norwegian drama television series Norwegian crime television series 2017 Norwegian television series debuts