Earlier than all of the Demogorgons in Stranger Issues, the lethal unhinged performs in Squid Video games and the jail orange jumpsuits in Orange is the New Black, Netflix kicked issues off with one thing fully sudden. It was a fish out of water mobster story set in snowy Norway.
Whereas many assume Home of Playing cards or Orange Is the New Black began all of it, it was really Lilyhammer that quietly opened the doorways in 2012.
Lilyhammer: The First Netflix Unique
This three-season crime drama flew underneath the radar for years. The present, led by The Sopranos’ Steven Van Zandt, was a collaboration between Netflix and Norway’s broadcaster NRK which made it the streamer’s first international storytelling experiment.
The story follows Frank Tagliano, an ex-mobster from New York who turns informant and enters witness safety. However, as a substitute of hiding away in some quiet American suburb, he asks to be relocated to Lillehammer, a Norwegian city he turned obsessive about after watching the 1994 Winter Olympics.
There, underneath a brand new identification as Giovanni “Johnny” Henriksen, Frank tries to mix in and begin contemporary. That plan although, doesn’t go very easily. His old-school mafia methods quickly begin clashing with native norms. From bribery to intimidation, he begins influencing the city the one approach he is aware of how, which places him at odds with small-time crooks and the native police alike.
Followers Are Lastly Discovering Lilyhammer in 2025
Years later, viewers are lastly catching on. In a Reddit thread the place somebody was on the lookout for hidden gems, Lilyhammer abruptly popped up with followers calling it underrated and completely different.
I’m on the lookout for some good Netflix suggestions
byu/AndreiRED0 innetflix
On Rotten Tomatoes, one viewer wrote, “The performing was good and the story and theme saved me till the very finish. A should watch should look ahead to followers of mobster films .”
One other mentioned, “It might sound fairly unusual, however most comedies at present neglect thar their principal objective ought to be to make individuals snigger. Fortuitously, this isn’t the case with Lillyhammer. Unapologetically humorous, intelligent and with stunning surroundings, it’s fairly exhausting no to binge it. A very hidden Netflix gem.”
A 3rd penned, “Nice mixture of intrigue and comedy. A present that doesn’t take itself too significantly and delivers hours of leisure. No political right indoctrination which is unusual for a present produced by Netflix. Not agenda. Simply good writing and nice performing. You’ll actually really feel for the characters.”
The Legacy of Lilyhammer in Netflix’s World Success
In line with Deadline, when the collection hit its ten-year mark in 2022, Netflix’s CEO Ted Sarandos appeared again at it as a daring first step.
“Wanting again, Lilyhammer was maybe an unorthodox selection for our first present. However it labored as a result of it was a deeply native story that we might share with the world,” he mentioned. “The jokes and references labored domestically and the extra common themes of the reveals traveled completely.”
He continued: “Since then, we’ve seen so many nice native tales resonate with individuals in different nations and from different cultures: reveals and movies set wherever and informed in any language. Lilyhammer was the forebearer of so many nice reveals to return – Darkish Need and Who Killed Sara? from Mexico, La Casa de Papel from Spain, The Rain and The Chestnut Man from Denmark, Darkish and Barbarians from Germany, Lupin from France, Sacred Video games from India, and naturally, most just lately, Squid Sport from Korea, our greatest present ever. However the first at all times will probably be Lilyhammer.”
All three seasons of Lilyhammer at the moment are streaming on Netflix.
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