Okkupert

Plot

In the near future, Middle East turmoil compromises oil production. The United States achieves energy independence and withdraws from NATO. Europe is suffering an energy crisis. A catastrophic hurricane, Hurricane Maria, fuelled by climate change, devastates Norway, leading to the rise of the Norwegian Green Party. Prime Minister Jesper Berg, an idealistic politician with bold plans for thorium-based nuclear power, cuts off all fossil fuel production. The EU, in desperation, asks Russia to initiate a velvet glove invasion of Norway. Russian special forces kidnap Berg, insisting that he submit to EU demands or face a full-scale invasion. Berg at first refuses, but after his kidnappers execute a random civilian, Berg submits, reasoning that nobody deserves to die. Berg is released and is picked up by his PST bodyguard Hans Martin Djupvik. To conceal the nature of the occupation, Berg promises the Norwegian people that the occupation is a temporary measure until Norway's oil and gas production is restored by Russian working crews. This intention unravels as a series of events complicate Norwegian–Russian interactions over the ensuing months.

The series of escalating complications begins when a member of the Royal Guard unsuccessfully attempts to assassinate the Russian ambassador, Irina Sidorova. Then a Russian agent is the victim of a hit-and-run and the Russian government demands that Norway extrajudicially extradite the driver, a suspected Chechen terrorist. The hit-and-run was an accident rather than a deliberate attack, but the driver commits suicide rather than being transferred to Russia. An insurgent group, Fritt Norge (Free Norway), emerges, and attacks police headquarters. The Russian government takes this as an excuse to prolong their occupation of Norway. A gas production facility is attacked, temporarily delaying the EU production target, and killing many Russian workers. Tensions further increase as unexplained events occur at the Norwegian–Russian border and a Russian naval fleet exercises off the coast of northern Norway. Berg asks the EU to protect Norway's sovereignty, but the EU fails to act decisively.

Fritt Norge receives assistance from inside the Norwegian police service and begins a recruitment drive of retired military personnel. Berg has in the meantime had known Russian sleeper agents sent to internment on Svalbard. In light of this internment campaign, Russian 'terrorists' seemingly armed with suicide vests storm Berg's office and hold him hostage. Berg is rescued and is evacuated to the American embassy. It emerges that the oil refinery attack was actually a false-flag attack by the Russians.

Berg, hiding in the American embassy, takes every opportunity to attempt engaging the United States in a series of Norwegian moves to try to dislodge the Russians, but the Americans refuse direct involvement in any conflict they have a risk of losing. Events spiral further when Fritt Norge kidnaps Sidorova; in response, Russian special forces seize Oslo Airport. Berg's pressure on the Americans prompts the ambassador to poison his food. Berg is admitted to hospital, and is captured yet again, this time by Fritt Norge, who also assassinate a high-ranking Russian general along with several Russian soldiers in front of the Russian embassy. Sidorova calls Djupvik and tells him that Russia is now at war with Norway. Berg is taken to a Fritt Norge resistance camp, and is asked if he is ready to fight for his country.

Production

Jo Nesbø wrote the first episodes in 2008, and the series, planned to be produced for Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, received a NOK 9.7 million production grant from the Norwegian Film Institute in April 2013. After four years of planning, disagreements over the progress led NRK to withdraw from the project; TV2 took over in October 2013. Erik Skjoldbjærg says that production for season 2 is ongoing.

Broadcast

The series premiered in Norway on TV2 on 5 October 2015. The series premiered in the United Kingdom on 13 January 2016 on Sky Arts in HD. The series has been added to the Netflix streaming service in multiple countries as of 20 January 2016. The series premiered on Pivot TV in the United States on 5 May 2016. The series premiered on public television station TVOntario in Canada on 11 September 2016.

Reception

The Daily Telegraph's cultural reviewer Gerard O'Donovan wrote of Occupied that the series' innovation more than made up for any lack of plausibility, citing the interesting historical, geopolitical interplay between Norway and Russia as fascinating. O'Donovan went on to praise the first episode, saying, "the tense plotting and a pace sufficiently frenetic to carry all but the most curmudgeonly along."

Vyacheslav Pavlovsky, the Russian ambassador to Norway, told Russian News Agency TASS that "It is certainly a shame that, in the year of the 70th anniversary of the victory in World War II, the authors have seemingly forgotten the Soviet Army's heroic contribution to the liberation of northern Norway from Nazi occupiers, decided, in the worst traditions of the Cold War, to scare Norwegian spectators with the nonexistent threat from the east."