Kari Skogland, the director behind The Handmaid’s Tale and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, is set to helm Vigilant, a six-part English-language thriller from Icelandic production company ACT4, German broadcaster ZDF and ZDF Studios. The series will explore the uneasy divide between justice and revenge, with production scheduled to begin in Iceland on 29 October.
The project has officially received the green light, with ZDF Studios handling worldwide distribution outside the US. Los Angeles-based Zero Gravity will oversee US distribution. ZDF Studios also co-developed the series, which brings together Icelandic creative talent and an international production partnership.
A Journalist Confronts a Self-Styled Vigilante
Vigilant follows a journalist approached by a man who claims to be targeting sexual predators through a violent campaign. Initially, she views him as someone giving a voice to those failed by the system. But as she investigates his actions, she begins to question whether his real motivation is justice or personal vengeance.
Her reporting sparks a nationwide debate, placing the journalist at the centre of a difficult moral question: can violence ever be justified when the justice system fails? Combining crime-thriller suspense with questions of public accountability, the series examines how far people might go when their faith in institutions breaks down.
Vigilant is Adapted From an Award-Winning Icelandic Novel
The series is adapted for television by Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, known for his acting roles in Severance and Trapped and a partner at ACT4. The source material is Stóri bróðir, a novel by Skúli Sigurðsson that won Iceland’s Blóðdropinn Crime Novel Award in 2023 and was shortlisted for the Glass Key, one of Nordic crime fiction’s leading prizes.
Ólafsson is joined in the writing team by Víkingur Kristjánsson, Anita Briem, Teitur Magnússon and Anna Gunndís Guðmundsdóttir.
Skogland will direct all six episodes and serve as an executive producer. Her credits include The Handmaid’s Tale, for which she received a BAFTA win and an Emmy nomination, and Marvel Studios’ The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, whose six episodes she directed. Her other television work includes The Loudest Voice and Smoke, as well as the upcoming Apple TV+ series 12 12 12.
ACT4 and ZDF Extend Their Partnership
Vigilant marks another collaboration between ACT4 and ZDF following Death of a Horse, an Icelandic crime drama due to premiere in 2027. Commissioned by Icelandic broadcaster RÚV and ZDF through the New8 public broadcaster alliance, that series is produced by ACT4 in co-production with Germany’s Windlight Pictures.
Icelandic broadcaster and streaming service Síminn has joined Vigilant as its local financing and broadcast partner. The series will premiere exclusively on Sjónvarp Símans Premium in Iceland.
With its Icelandic setting and internationally experienced creative team, Vigilant aims to pair Nordic crime storytelling with a broader debate about justice, vengeance and the consequences of taking the law into one’s own hands.
Source: ZDF Studios
