Katla (TV series)

Katla is an Icelandic mystery-drama television series created by Baltasar Kormákur and Sigurjón Kjartansson. The show premiered on 17 June 2021 on Netflix.

Synopsis

A year after an eruption of the Katla volcano began, only a few people remain in the nearby town of Vík, persisting despite choking ash. An ash-caked woman who apparently disappeared twenty years earlier appears in the village, looking as she did back then. More ash-caked people who died in the past arrive in Vík, creating a paradox for those who knew them and reviving legends of "changelings". Meanwhile, a volcanologist from Reykjavík discovers the remains of a meteorite buried in the glacier, while having to deal emotionally with the reappearance of his dead son. Through their interactions with the "changelings", the inhabitants of Vík are forced to find their own ways of dealing with their unresolved issues from the past.

Cast and characters

Guðrún Eyfjörð as Gríma Þórsdóttir, younger sister of Ása
Íris Tanja Flygenring as Ása Þórsdóttir, Gríma's older sister, who died a year ago.
Ingvar Sigurðsson as Þór Jonsson, father of Gríma, Ása, and Björn
Aliette Opheim as Gunhild Halberg, in the present and as a young woman; mother of Björn
Valter Skarsgård as Björn, son of Gunhild and Þór through an affair twenty years earlier
Aldís Amah Hamilton as Eyja
Þorsteinn Bachmann as Gísli Einar, head of the local police, husband of Magnea
Sólveig Arnarsdóttir as Magnea in the present and as a young woman; wife of Gísli
Haraldur Ari Stefánsson as Einar, son of Gísli and Magnea
Björn Thors as Darri Hansson, volcanologist; husband of Rakel and father of Mikael
Birgitta Birgisdóttir as Rakel, wife of Darri and mother of Mikael
Hlynur Atli Harðarson as Mikael, son of Darri and Rakel who died in an accident years ago.
Helga Braga Jónsdóttir as Vigdís
Björn Ingi Hilmarsson as Leifur

Production

In February 2017, Variety magazine reported that Baltasar Kormákur would be working on Katla, a supernatural drama series centered on the volcano of the same name, with filming to take place outside Reykjavík. In October 2019, it was reported that RVK Studios was developing the series for Netflix, to be directed by Kormákur and Sigurjón Kjartansson. The series started production prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the subsequent forced shutdown put a halt to the work, which had covered a few weeks by that point. Kormákur resumed production in April 2020.

Critical reception

John Doyle of The Globe and Mail wrote: "In what is a slow-moving, Stygian and enigmatic eight-part series... there's a beguiling mystery about heartbreak." Robyn Chowdhury of New Scientist praised the series in her review, concluding: "Katla is a thriller with such depth that some episodes, particularly the fast-paced season finale, can leave you feeling genuinely emotionally raw. It is a story about grief with unpredictably dark twists and turns, worthy of multiple watches."