Beartown () is a five-episode 2020 drama series directed by Peter Grönlund. Based on Fredrik Backman's 2016 novel of the same name, the series centres on the fallout of a violent incident between two teenagers in a rural, declining town in Northern Sweden, where hockey is not just a sport but a way of life. The main roles are played by Ulf Stenberg, , Oliver Dufåker, Aliette Opheim, and Tobias Zilliacus.
Filmlance International, best known for co-producing The Bridge (2011–2018), announced they had secured the rights to Backman's novel in 2017. Two years later, HBO Europe reported the series had been greenlit, making it their second Swedish production. Bonnie Skoog Feeney and Mattias Arehn produced the series through Filmlance. The story was adapted and written by screenwriters Anders Weidemann, Antonia Pyk, and Linn Gottfridsson. Hockey experience was a major consideration during casting, with casting director contacting schools and hockey clubs throughout Northern Sweden. Filming primarily took place in Gällivare, Norrbotten County, from February to May 2019 over 72 days. Post-production was impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The first two episodes of Beartown premiered on 18 October 2020 on HBO Nordic, with the remaining three being released weekly until 8 November. The series also had a North American release via Max on 22 February 2021. It received generally positive reviews from both Swedish and international critics. Praise was given to Grönlund's direction, the technical portrayal of the sport, and the performances of the cast. The series was nominated for Best TV Drama at Kristallen 2021. Stenberg and Ingrid received Kristallen nominations for Best Lead Actor and Actress, respectively. The series' original score was also recognised; Johan Testad earned a nomination for the HARPA Nordic Film Composer Award.
Cast
Episodes
Production Development
Swedish author Fredrik Backman began writing his fourth novel Björnstad as a television series, which is why it follows multiple characters' perspectives, unlike his previous works. However he ultimately decided, after advice from his wife and agent, that he was not suited to the collaborative and meeting-intensive process of television production. Set in a small town in Northern Sweden, the 2016 novel deals with the aftermath of a talented youth hockey player (Kevin) raping the teenage daughter (Maya) of the team's general manager (Peter). After translation into English by Neil Smith, it was published as Beartown the following year and became a New York Times Best Seller.
In February 2017, the Swedish production company Filmlance International announced they had secured the rights to adapt Beartown into a television series. Filmlance was best known for its co-production of The Bridge (2011–2018), a popular Danish-Swedish crime drama which spurred multiple international remakes. Two other Backman novels had already been adapted for screen: A Man Called Ove (2015) had been released to box office success and Britt-Marie Was Here (2019) was then in production. Beartown was the first Backman novel adapted for television rather than film. Although credited as an executive producer, Backman characterised his involvement in the series as minimal. Explaining his team's approach to screen adaptations, he said: "we try to find the best possible people to work with, ask a lot of questions in advance, but then we move out of the way and let them do their job".
Peter Grönlund, the filmmaker behind Drifters (2015) and (2018), was selected to direct the series. The novel was adapted by Anders Weidemann; he was instructed to develop the script so that it would be commercially viable in Sweden and abroad. He had sketched out a general storyline and written several episode drafts before an American project of his reached the next stage of development, prompting the addition of screenwriters Linn Gottfridsson and Antonia Pyk to the project. They spent about a year collaborating on the script. Several changes to the source material were made while adapting the source material for screen. One was expanding the relationship between Maya and Kevin. In the book, they hardly know each other before the rape, whereas in the series they have a close relationship, a dynamic characterised by Grönlund as a destroyed almost-love story. The story's timeline was compressed and its multi-perspective structure was simplified to focus primarily on three characters: Peter, Maya, and Kevin.
In January 2019, HBO Europe announced Beartown had been greenlit, confirming key cast and crew, including producers Bonnie Skoog Feeney and Mattias Arehn. Beartown marked HBO Europe's second Swedish series, after Lukas Moodysson's Gösta in 2019, and third Scandinavian series, after Gösta and the Norwegian Beforeigners (2019–2021).
Casting The primary cast members were Ulf Stenberg, , Oliver Dufåker, Aliette Opheim, and Tobias Zilliacus. As he had done in previous works, Grönlund opted to feature professional actors alongside newcomers who "could relate to the show's environment and its culture." Casting director spoke about the difficulty of finding young prospective actors with hockey experience from the region. She travelled around Norrland and emailed numerous schools during the process. The production team visited hockey clubs in Northern Sweden. Hockey experience was a major consideration, as the series would otherwise require stunt doubles or extensive training for actors. Actors who played on the fictional junior hockey team were recruited from Norrbotten and speak with the characteristic regional dialect. Dufåker had no acting experience before being cast as Kevin Erdahl, but played junior hockey in Luleå, Boden, and Timrå. Stenberg, who played a lead role of hockey coach Peter Andersson, was born in Boden and raised in Umeå. He noted that the locker room talk shown in the series was similar to what he observed growing up, and that he recognised himself in the character he played. Other actors in the series with roots in Northern Sweden include Otto Fahlgren, Charlotta Jonsson, , Najdat Rustom, Alfons Nordberg, and Sanna Niemi. Extras were also recruited from the region.
Filming and post-production
With a 72-day shooting schedule, filming began on 4 February 2019 and finished in May. The series was primarily shot in Gällivare, with many scenes filmed at the ice rink there. Other settlements in Norrbotten County were also used, including Övertorneå, Haparanda, Kalix, Malmberget, and Kiruna. With snow depths up to and temperatures as low as , the difficult conditions caused camera malfunctions. served as the cinematographer and Aimee McDaniel as the sports choreographer. By the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Beartown had finished editing, so it was able to proceed with its planned release date, but post-production such as automated dialogue replacement had to be done remotely.
Music The series' original score was composed by Johan Testad. He had previously worked on several projects with Grönlund, including Goliath, for which he won a Guldbagge Award for Best Original Score. Beartown'''s official soundtrack also featured one song each by myie and Lasse Nystromz Orkester. Ingrid uses the name myie for her music.
Marketing and release Beartown was previewed at the Nordic TV Drama Vision event in January 2020. In June, HBO announced via press release that the series would premiere in the autumn simultaneously on HBO Nordic and HBO Europe. The announcement was accompanied by the release of the first still photographs and a teaser. On 18 October, the first two episodes of Beartown premiered, with the remaining three being released weekly afterwards. By 30 November, it was the tenth most-watched series on HBO Nordic. The series premiered to North American audiences on 22 February 2021 via Max. Beartown and other Scandinavian productions were later removed from the platform, with a spokesperson from HBO remarking that the change was due to a planned upcoming merger between HBO Max and Discovery+. In 2023, Beartown and 20 other programmes were picked up by SkyShowtime. After a period of inaccessibility due to the network shuffling, the series was again made available for streaming via SVT Play on 1 April 2026. Reception
Critical response On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 93% of 14 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.8/10. Its consensus reads: "Acutely observed and coiled with dread, Beartown is an intelligent sports drama that explores how the culture of an insular community can be complicit in a crime." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, gave Beartown a score of 82 out of 100 based on 7 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Domestically, the series earned an average rating of 3.8/5 based on 19 critics on the Swedish review aggregator site Kritiker. It was featured on several best-of lists in Sweden. Hugo Lindqvist of Dagens Nyheter, who regarded Beartown as one of the best programmes of the year, concluded it was "a superbly acted and melancholically beautiful homecoming story—at times so striking it feels like taking a puck to the stomach". Ranking it second-best of the year for Aftonbladet, praised all aspects of the series. Jonatan Blomberg of MovieZine called it the best new Swedish series and the fifth-best overall of the year. In Elle Sweden, Louise Berglund and Louise Åström listed it at #3.
Critical opinions were largely positive on the effectiveness of the adaptation. Kaveh Jalinous of Under the Radar praised the decision to adapt the novel into a series rather than a film given its narrative complexity. Positive reviews of the writing also came from Jan Andersson of Göteborgs-Posten, who considered it a wholly successful adaptation of Backman's novel, and Shane Ryan of Paste, who felt the plot was "masterfully handled". Malin Slotte agreed in Hufvudstadsbladet, deeming the story "really well-told and engaging". On the other hand, Valerie Ettenhofer of Film School Rejects considered the series underwritten, saying: "adaptation takes a once-rich story and strips it down until it becomes too thin to support the weight of its own heavy themes". Others—Jacob Lundström of Dagens Nyheter and Karoline Eriksson of Svenska Dagbladet—found the writing generally effective, while noting a few perceived shortcomings with subtlety. One recurring point of criticism was the handling of subplots and secondary characters. Jalinous felt that the aspects of the story unrelated to hockey or the rape were underdeveloped. Ashlie D. Stevens of Salon considered some characters to be overly flat. Lundström cited Peter's wife Mira as an insufficiently explored character. Melanie Åström agreed in Norrländska Socialdemokraten; writing that Mira was "yet another woman whose role merely enables the man to pursue his higher-priority career". Åström considered the worst aspect of the series to be the lack of resolution for Benji's character arc.
The technical execution and atmosphere created by Grönlund and cinematographer Petrus Sjövik were commended by critics. Lundström cited the production as a rarely authentic portrayal of small-town life in Norrbotten. Shane Ryan in Paste too highlighted Grönlund's direction, noting an "almost Robert Altman-esque vibe" to the overlapping dialogue. He also praised the series for a realistic depiction of the sport. John Doyle echoed this sentiment in The Globe and Mail, calling the on-ice scenes "thrillingly authentic." Baker commended the series' sports choreographer Aimee McDaniel for focusing on "mundane necessities like D-to-D passes" rather than flashy athletic displays. A dissenting perspective came from Michael Tapper of Sydsvenskan;'' he argued Grönlund's direction lacked nerve and that the series only came to life via editing during the hockey matches.