Last von Trier’s last instalment in the cult hospital series is produced by Zentropa for Nent Group’s Viaplay and DR, with support from Nordisk Film & TV Fond.
The new five episodes of approximately 60 minutes are currently filming, both in a studio and on location in the Copenhagen area, until the end of the summer.
The premiere on NENT Group’s streamer Viaplay in 2022 will be followed by a broadcast on Danish pubcaster DR. TrustNordisk handles global sales.
The five first actors from the large ensemble cast were announced on Monday, with the rest of the names to be unveiled in the coming months, including the international cast.
Denmark’s prolific and respected actress Ghita Nørby (Key House Mirror, Freud Leaving Home) is returning in the role as the anaesthesiologist Rigmor Mortensen, who is now a patient in the hospital she once ruled fearlessly. Much has happened over the years, and she now spends her time haunting the hospital elevators.
"Being part of Lars von Trier's first Kingdom was for me a life experience and a deeply educational period in my life,” said Nørby. “For me, as an actor and human being, meeting Lars was a renewal of work that I have carried with me all my life. Being inside Lars von Trier's field of vision, his camera eye, is an indescribable joy. When a message came that we should end The Kingdom and that Rigmor - i.e. me Ghita - should join again, because I am one of the survivors, I could not be happier. “
Also returning is Peter Mygind (Borgen, The Sommerdahl Murders), who had his breakthrough in the first season of The Kingdom, as the spoiled and self-absorbed medical student Mogge, as well as Søren Pilmark (The Killing, Atlantic Crossing) who plays the cynical resident doctor Krogsgaard, nicknamed ‘The Hook’.
Among the new faces are Bodil Jørgensen (The Idiots, Nothing’s All Bad) and Nicolas Bro (Riders of Justice).
Co-written again by von Trier with his original writing partner in the series Niels Vørsel, the sleepwalker Karen seeks answers to the unresolved questions of The Kingdom, in order to save the hospital from doom. Sound asleep one night, Karen wanders into the darkness and inexplicably ends up in front of the hospital. The gate to the Kingdom is opening…
Expanding on the overall storyline and universe, Zentropa’s official statement says that the ghost stories are set “in the hospital built on top of the old bleaching ponds in Copenhagen, where evil has taken roots and the medical science faces a daily struggle with itself, where the Swedes curse the Danes and the mysterious and inexplicable blend together in a mixture of horror and humour.”
In connection with the production of The Kingdom Exodus, the first two seasons of eight episodes in total will be available in a restored version.
The Kingdom Exodus is produced by Zentropa Entertainments’ Louise Vesth for Viaplay and DR, in co-production with Film i Väst, Zentropa Sweden and Ginger Pictures, with support from Nordisk Film & TV Fond, Creative Europe, and tax shelter from BNP Paribas Fortis Film Finance.