Kari Skogland will direct Iceland-shot thriller Vigilant

Canadian director Kari Skogland will direct Vigilant, a new thriller series to be filmed in Iceland, mbl.is reports. The series is based on Skúli Sigurðsson’s novel Big Brother, with Ólafur Darri Ólafsson writing the screenplay.

The project is a European co-production involving Icelandic production company ACT4, streaming service Síminn, German broadcaster ZDF and its distribution company, ZDF Studios. Ólafsson’s co-writers are Víkingur Kristjánsson, Anita Briem, Teitur Magnússon and Anna Gunndís Guðmundsdóttir.

Big Brother is a story of revenge and justice. At every full moon, a man is beaten severely by what appears to be the same attacker: a black-clad figure who vanishes into the night. The victims initially seem to have nothing in common, but they are all sex offenders. The series follows a journalist contacted by the attacker.

Skogland, whose directing credits include The Handmaid’s Tale, The Walking Dead and Vikings, will also serve as a producer. She said the story gripped her from the first page, and that its characters each follow their own moral line, prompting viewers to reconsider their own positions.

Filming is due to begin in Iceland on October 29, and the story is set there. ZDF will show the series in Germany, while Síminn holds the rights in Iceland.