Satu Rämö’s HILDUR optioned for TV series development!

Published in June this year, Satu Rämö’s debut crime novel, Hildur has become the book event of the year. TV series rights have now been optioned to Take Two Studios for a planned Icelandic and German co-production to be shot in Iceland.

Author Satu Rämö was taken by the news. “A tv series based on my own crime series is a dream come true. While writing Hildur, I saw the events and locations so clearly in my mind that it feels particularly good that Take Two see the book’s potential for a tv series.”

Eleonoora Kirk, literary agent at Bonnier Rights Finland, who negotiated the deal, is thrilled with Hildur’s run of success thus far: “It’s not every day in the literary agent’s work that you sell translation rights to a book before its domestic publication; nor is it every day that you find yourself fielding multiple, passionate bids from production companies. Hildur has been a force of nature from the start – both with Finnish readers as well as foreign publishers, and I can’t wait to follow the development of this exciting project.”

Optioning showrunner Take Two Studios was founded by former Aito Media co-founder Eero Hietala and Lasse Koskinen together with Sara Norberg as chief operating officer. The year-old independent production company focuses on high-end, high-concept drama, documentaries and podcasts has just inked a multi-year, minimum of 12 project development slate financing deal with Finnish based venture capital fund manager IPR.VC with Hildur as their flagship IP for the slate. “With this deal with IPR.VC our start-up production company has the opportunity to develop international and ambitious projects both actively and independently. Hildur’s story also offers a great opportunity for genuine Finnish-Icelandic cooperation, which will undoubtedly increase the project’s international potential, says Take Two COO, Sara Norberg.

Hildur, the first book in a planned trilogy by Satu Rämö, has sold 70,000 copies in Finland and is also BookBeat’s most-listened to title of the year. Translation rights to the trilogy have sold to Germany, The Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Estonia and Latvia to date.

Satu Rämö won BookBeat’s ’Newcomer of the Year Award’ and is currently nominated for the ’Tulenkantaja’ Prize, also known as the Finnish Literary Export Prize.
Rósa & Björk, the second book in the series, will be published by WSOY in March 2023.