Netflix to adapt Killing scribe’s novel

Netflix has re-teamed with a Danish production company to adapt the debut novel from the creator and writer of The Killing, Søren Sveistrup, into an original series.

Søren Sveistrup

StudioCanal-backed SAM Productions will start work on The Chestnut Man (6×50′) in Denmark next year.

The US streaming giant is also working with the Copenhagen-based prodco, set up in 2014 by Sveistrup, Borgen scribe Adam Price and producer Meta Louise Foldager Sørensen, on six-part Norwegian-language drama Ragnarok.

The Chestnut Man will be Netflix’s second Danish original series, following The Rain, and will debut on the streaming service exclusively worldwide.

Set in a quiet suburb of Copenhagen, the character-driven thriller drama follows events after the police discover a young woman brutally murdered in a playground with one of her hands missing and a small figure of a man made of chestnuts hanging above her.

The detectives discover a mysterious piece of evidence on the chestnut man – evidence connecting it to the daughter of a politician who went missing a year earlier and was presumed dead.

“Netflix has shown a strong, genuine interest in my book and I’m excited about the deal and confident that Netflix will be the perfect place for The Chestnut Man,” said Sveistrup.

The novel has been translated into 28 languages and is set to be published in more than 50 countries.

Tesha Crawford, director of Netflix international originals in Northern Europe, added the streamer is looking to build “on the great tradition of Nordic noir” with the show.

In related news, Netflix has teamed up with home organisation experts Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin for a US lifestyle series from executive producer Reese Witherspoon.

The as-yet-untitled 8×60′ series will see Shearer and Teplin, the duo behind home organisation company The Home Edit, de-clutter the homes of celebrities and ordinary families.

Netflix has begun production on the show, which is executive produced by Molly Sims, Witherspoon for Hello Sunshine, Charlotte Koh and Cynthia Stockhammer.

It will also be executive produced by Critical Content’s Tom Forman, Jenny Daly and Jon Beyer along with Tess Gamboa Meyers, who will serve as showrunner.