‘More hell than paradise’ (exclusive)

Prime Video has established the global launch date of its Swedish premium program “Paradis City”, a quick rhythm shareholder, based on the homonymous novel of “Snabba Cash” of the Escriba Jens Lapidus.

The six -part series, which will be launched on March 7 exclusively in Prime Video, will be exhibited as works in progress today on January 29 in the vision of the Göteborg television drama.

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Produced by Shingle Strive Studios de Lapidus, the show is lined by Alexander Abdallah (“Snabba Cash”), Julia Ragnsson (“Midsommarmar”, “Blinded”) and Sverrir Gudnason (“fall”, “face to face”). Fenar Ahmad (“Darkland”) and Alain Darborg (“Dot Red”) serve as directors.

Adapted for the small screen of the main writer Björn Paqualin (“busy”, “thicker than water”) with Michaela Hamilton (“A Class Apart”) and Oliver Dixon (“The Lawyer”), “Paradis City” is in The near future.

The polarization of Swedish society has reached unprecedented levels and prison walls are separating privileged citizens from vulnerable and supposedly dangerous areas, governed by special laws. When the Secretary of the Interior is kidnapped by masked men in a demonstration in one of the largest areas of ‘NO-GO’, Paradis City, special agents Fredrika (Ragnarsson) recruits Emir (Abdallah), a former fighter of the MMA who Face life in prison to find the politician, otherwise, he could risk losing the opportunity to see his daughter again.

“It is more Hell City than Paradise City,” Lapidus says about his dystopian universe, where only spectators can decide who the good or evil on each side of the walls are. “The titles of my novels have different interpretations, but this is obviously ironic,” continues the Swedish novelist with a high profile and former criminal defense lawyer, whose stocolm trilogy of Stockholm of Stockholm became global successes in libraries and small screens and silver. Netflix’s restart, co-created by Lapidus, also named Abdallah on the talent list to see.

But what made the best -selling criminal writer separate from his distinctively realistic vision of Stockholm to take advantage of science fiction?

“Well, I had moved to Mallorca, Spain in 2017, and I left my job as a lawyer to completely concentrate on writing,” says Lapidus Variety. “When listening and reading the news about Sweden from afar, I began to see a country destroyed by gang violence. It was then that I had the idea of ​​drawing a Sweden seen from the distance, not geographical but in time. I started thinking: what would happen if this violence and crime went out of control? What would be the nightmare scenario? Well, that nightmare scenario would be a society unable to protect and suddenly forced to build gigantic walls to move away “dangerous” people.

For Lapidus, his dystopian vision of Sweden is not so far from reality. “Stockholm is among the most segregated cities in Europe, therefore, the walls of the ‘Paradis city’ are an extrapolation, a metaphorical representation of what already exists,” he observes.

When resorting to the television program that produced, Lapidus says that the key questions that he makes and hopes that the audience reflects are “how do Western democracies occupy with polarization in society? Does the end justify the media?

The producer Niklas Wikström Nicasto, a partner of Strive Studios, says that the program “is almost as a characteristic, with a quick rhythm. Literally follows the novel, although, of course, in terms of history, we have made changes.”
With John Carpenter’s film of 1981 “Escape from New York” starring Kurt Russell as one of the reference points, the creatives ensured that the tone, style and characterization were expanded. Comparing to the characters of the series with Frodo in “The Lord of the Rings” that meets the dwarves and the elves in the Middle -earth, the author says that his protagonists also make a trip. “In the program, you cross different groups, different worlds. This gives you a broader understanding of society, ”says Lapidus.

As for Casting, enrolling Alexander Abdallah to play the charismatic and fierce Emir was an obvious option, but finding the right actress to play special agent Fredrika was a long and winding process. “Julia obtained the role only three weeks before shooting. It was crazy. But we are very happy with our choice. Both Alexander and Julia are among the most talented of his generation, ”says Nicastro.

Originally ordered by Viaplay, the series ended with a main video when the Nordic streamer had financial problems and decided to sell the rights to generate extra cash. “Amazon Prime entered during production. They have been super enthusiastic since the first day, and our collaboration went very well, ”said the producer who hopes the brand will continue. “The novel is a closed story, but our program has a strong returnable potential,” he says.

When commenting on “Paradis City”, Karin Lindström, Chief of Nordic Amazon MGM Studios/Prime Video, said: “We are always attentive to the established and shocking IP with a strong local relevance for our written titles. Jens Lapidus’s book He immediately stood out for us, not only for his convincing narrative but also due to his close collaboration with the production team and alignment with the vision of the producers to involve the audience with this story. “

“Paradis City” was part of a package of nine originals acquired from Viaplay in February 2024 by the global streamer of the United States, as part of its commitment to the Nordic region, which remains as strong as ever as Lindström said Variety: “Our goal is to offer a diverse mixture of local script and script titles that not only promote new primary subscriptions, but also encourage members to return regularly, creating a true entertainment destination of One Stop.

Our strategy has proven to succeed in combining international and local content to achieve this goal, ”he said. “Although the exact number of titles varies according to its potential impact, by 2025 we plan to launch six written titles and 14 without script in Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Looking towards the future, we have no intention of reducing and continuing to deliver a strong and attractive alignment. “

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