Arctic Circle () is a Finnish-German crime drama television series that premiered on Finnish streaming service Elisa Viihde at Christmas 2018 and later on

Yle Yleisradio Oy (; ), abbreviated as Yle () (formerly styled in all uppercase until 2012), translated into English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, founded in 1926. It is a joint-stock comp ...

. The series stars Iina Kuustonen,

Maximilian Brückner Maximilian Brückner (born 10 January 1979) is a German actor. He has won numerous awards including the Deutscher Kritikerpreis in 2006 and received a European Shooting Stars Award in 2007. Career Maximilian Brückner graduated from the Otto Fa ...

Pihla Viitala Pihla Viitala (born 30 September 1982) is a Finnish actress. She studied acting at the Helsinki Theatre Academy. Personal life In 2004, Viitala married musician Kerkko Koskinen; the couple divorced in 2008. She married Kazakhs, Kazakh-Germans ...

Clemens Schick Clemens Schick (born 15 February 1972) is a German actor, model, political activist and human rights advocate. He has appeared in more than seventy films since 1998, including leading roles in both German and international productions. He has ap ...

and

Susanna Haavisto Susanna Haavisto (born 20 October 1957, in Helsinki) is a Finnish actress and singer. She is the daughter of musician Jukka Haavisto and sister of musicians Olli and Janne Haavisto. She has taken part in several movies and TV programs. She was U ...

. ''Arctic Circle'' is the first co-production between Finland's

Yellow Film & TV Yellow Film & TV Ltd. () is a Finland, Finnish film production, film and television production company. It is the leading independent production company in the Nordic countries. The company specializes in movies, drama, comedy, entertainment, spo ...

and Germany's

Bavaria Film Bavaria Film GmbH is a German film production and distribution company located in Grünwald, Bavaria at the district of Munich. It is one of Europe's largest film production companies and one of the leading production and distribution companies ...

, picked up for world distribution by Paris-based

Lagardère Studios Lagardère may refer to: Companies * Lagardère Group, a French media group ** Lagardère Live Entertainment, an entertainment agency subsidiary ** Lagardère News, the media activities arm ** Lagardère Publishing, the book publishing arm People ...

. The series was created by Yellow Film & TV CEO Olli Haikka and Head of Drama Petja Peltomaa with Joona Tena who shares the writing credit with Iceland's experienced

Jón Atli Jónasson Jón Atli Jónasson (born 1972 in Reykjavík) is an Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is ...

. ''Arctic Circle'' is directed by Finnish-born, Germany-based Hannu Salonen, Juha Lankinen and Jussi Hiltunen.

Plot

Set in an icy

Finnish Lapland Lapland is the largest and northernmost Regions of Finland, region of Finland. The 21 municipalities in the region cooperate in a Regional Council. Lapland borders the Finnish region of North Ostrobothnia in the south. It also borders the Gul ...

, in series 1, Finnish police officer Nina Kautsalo ( Iina Kuustonen) finds a nearly dead prostitute in a cabin in the wilderness. The case takes a surprising turn when a deadly virus is found in the prostitute's body. Nina and German virologist Thomas Lorenz (

) start investigating the case.

Cast and characters

* Iina Kuustonen as Nina Kautsalo *

as Marita Kautsalo * as Venla Kautsalo *

as Elina Kautsalo * as Sari Nikander (S1 — S2) *

Kari Ketonen Kari Mikael Ketonen (born 16 August 1971) is a Finnish actor. Born in Espoo, he portrayed the president of Russia Vladimir Putin in the sketch comedy television show ''Putous'' in 2014. He also played Putin in the film '' Iron Sky: The Coming Race ...

as Jaakko Stenius *

Mikko Leppilampi Mikko Johannes Leppilampi (born 22 September 1978) is a Finnish actor, musician, and TV host. He is the son of Jukka Leppilampi (born 1954), a Finnish gospel musician. Leppilampi is considered to be one of the most promising stars of Finland's ...

as Esko Kangasniemi *

Taneli Mäkelä Taneli Mäkelä (born 10 March 1959) is a Finnish actor, singer and writer. He appeared in more than seventy films since 1985. Selected filmography References External links * {{DEFAULTSORT:Makela, Taneli 1959 births Living people ...

as Reino Ylikorpi

Season 1

as Thomas Lorenz * Jari Virman as Raunola *

as Marcus Eiben *

Joi Johansson Joi or JOI may refer to: People * Jóhannes Ásbjörnsson (born 1979; nicknamed Jói), Icelandic TV and radio show host * Joi (singer) (born 1971), American singer, songwriter, and record producer Given name * Joi Arcand (born 1982), nehiyaw pho ...

as Jens Mathiesen * Janne Kataja as Niilo Aikio *

Maria Ylipää Maria Mikaela Markuntytär Ylipää (born 8 August 1981) is a Finnish singer and actress, who has starred in the musical ''Kristina från Duvemåla'' (Helsinki 2012, Göteborg 2014, Stockholm 2015) and acted in the films ''Keisarikunta'' (2004) an ...

as Gunilla Lorenz *

Kari Hietalahti Kari-Jukka Hietalahti (born 13 September 1964) is a Finnish actor and screenwriter. Career Kari Hietalahti is best known for having appeared in several popular Finnish television series, such as '' Vintiöt'', '' Ihmisten puolue'', and '' Roba ...

as Hamari *

Kristo Salminen Kristo may refer to: Given name Surname *Krišto, a Croatian surname **Borjana Krišto (born 1961), Bosnian Croat politician *Danny Kristo (born 1990), American hockey player Other uses * Kristo (1996 film), ''Kristo'' (1996 film) See also

...

as Reidar Hamari * Alina Tomnikov as Lana

Season 2

* Maxim Busel as Victor Zujev *

Mikko Nousiainen Mikko Olavi Nousiainen (born 26 April 1975, in Tampere) is a Finnish actor. His father is actor Heikki Nousiainen. Selected filmography * '' Friends, Comrades'' (1990) *'' Going to Kansas City'' (1998) *''Restless'' (2000) *'' Stripping'' (2002) ...

as Toni Kajanne * as Aava Lahti * as Justin Merriman *

John Finn John Joseph Finn (born September 30, 1952) is an American character actor known as one of the leads of the television programs ''Cold Case'' and '' EZ Streets''. Finn has also had supporting roles in the films '' The Hunted'' (2003), ''Analyze ...

as Gordon Merriman * Andrius Paulavicius as Nikolai Kurakin

Season 4 (unique)

Ilkka Villi Ilkka Villi (born 4 August 1975) is a Finnish actor and writer, best known internationally for his work in the ''Alan Wake'' video games as well as the crime drama series '' Bordertown''. He has played a variety of roles in theatre, television, ...

as Jarmo * Roosa Söderholm as Stina Nurmi * Arttu Kapulainen as Tuomas Hovatta * Matti Onnismaa as Ossi Kangasniemi * Sinikka Mokkila as Aila Männistö * Lily Jääsvuo as Santeri Kautsalo * Sofia Jääsvuo as Santeri Kautsalo * Jarkko Pajunen as Toikka * Kreeta Salminen as Helena Kirkinen *

Jakob Öhrman Jakob may refer to: People * Jakob (given name), including a list of people with the name * Jakob (surname), including a list of people with the name Other * Jakob (band), a New Zealand band, and the title of their 1999 EP * Max Jakob Memorial Awa ...

as Stepan Nitko * Kreeta Salminen as Helena Kirkinen * Lena Meriläinen as Dr. Satu Kela * Elena Spirina as Polina Rotkova *

Kati Outinen Anna Katriina "Kati" Outinen (born 17 August 1961) is a Finnish actress who has often played leading female roles in Aki Kaurismäki's films. Outinen was born in Helsinki. Having studied under Jouko Turkka during his "reign" of drama studies ...

as Raakel Hovatta * Alexandra Asherie as Lotte Venter * Veikka Puumalainen as Timo * Charlotte Bradley as Ella Bolmaro * Artur Kukov as Sasha Ragulin

Episodes

Season 1 (2018-19)

Season 2 (2021-22)

Season 3 (2023)

Season 4 (2025)

Production

In November 2017, it was announced that the main cast would consist of Iina Kuustonen, Maximilian Brückner, Clemens Schick and Pihla Viitala. It was also announced that filming of season one would begin in Finland later that month, on the 27th of November 2017. Filming of season 2 took place in Finnish Lapland during the autumn of 2020 and later winter/early spring of 2021.

Release

The series aired on ZDF in Germany in 2020. In North America the rights to the series were acquired by Topic. As part of its ongoing distribution deal Lagardère Studios Distribution also sold the rights to Polar+ (France), RTS (Switzerland), BeTV (Belgium), Videotron (Canada), NPO (The Netherlands), IVI (Russia), Canal Plus (Poland), RTP (Portugal), Cosmopolitan TV (Spain), Elisa (China) and FTV Outre-mer 1e (France overseas).

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 6800294 * About Arctic Circle on fanpag
gesucht wird: Maximilian Brückner
Finnish drama television series German drama television series German crime television series Laestadianism in popular culture 2018 German television series debuts 2010s Finnish television series 2010s German police procedural television series 2020s German police procedural television series Finnish police procedural television series