Los Angeles-based Upgrade Productions is partnering with Iceland’s new ACT 4 and Croatia’s Drugi Plan on the eco-thriller Volcano.
The eight-part series follows surviving residents from a volcano which has devasted Iceland as they are relocated to Croatia under a UN directive and must learn how to live together, survive cultural clashes and ultimately help each other.
Production on the mixed-language series – which will be in English, Icelandic, Croatian – is scheduled to start early next year and will take place in Iceland and Croatia.
ACT 4, the production company led by Icelandic creatives including True Detective actor Ólafur Darri Ólafsson and Black Sands producer Hörður Rúnarsson, is producing alongside Croatia’s Drugi Plan led by Nebojsa Taraba and Miodrag Sila (HBO’s Success, Netflix’s The Paper).
Upgrade Productions, led by co-presidents Matt Brodlie and Jonathan Kier, serves as executive producer on Volcano, which is based on an original idea by Taraba and Sila and written by Rúnarsson and Mateja Božičević.
“We’re thrilled to collaborate with ACT 4 and Drugi Plan on Volcano as we see this series not simply as story about disaster, but an exploration of how people behave and treat each other under extraordinary circumstances,” said Upgrade Productions head of series Caroline Kusser. “Hörður Rúnarsson and Mateja Božičević have crafted an incredibly compelling project that we’re excited to develop further together.”
Upgrade launched in October 2021 in partnership with Germany’s Constantin Film to capitalise on the global demand for local-language content. The development slate includes sci-fi thriller series Ulterior starring Alba Flores and produced with Spain’s Morena Films, and Untitled 1982 World Cup (working title) an original Italian-language series produced by Cloud 9 Film and written by Franco Bernini, Carmen Danza, and Manuela Pinetti.
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