# Arctic Circle (TV series)

Arctic Circle (Finnish: Ivalo) is a Finnish-German crime drama television series that premiered on Finnish streaming service Elisa Viihde at Christmas 2018 and later on Yle. The series stars Iina Kuustonen, Maximilian Brückner, Pihla Viitala, Clemens Schick and Susanna Haavisto.
Arctic Circle is the first co-production between Finland's Yellow Film & TV and Germany's Bavaria Film, picked up for world distribution by Paris-based Lagardère Studios. The series was created by Yellow Film & TV CEO Olli Haikka and Head of Drama Petja Peltomaa with Joona Tena who shares the writing credit with Iceland's experienced Jón Atli Jónasson. Arctic Circle is directed by Finnish-born, Germany-based Hannu Salonen, Juha Lankinen and Jussi Hiltunen.

## Plot

Set in an icy Finnish Lapland, in series 1, Finnish police officer Nina Kautsalo (Iina Kuustonen) finds a nearly dead prostitute in a cabin in the wilderness. The case takes a surprising turn when a deadly virus is found in the prostitute's body. Nina and German virologist Thomas Lorenz (Maximilian Brückner) start investigating the case.

## Cast and characters

* Iina Kuustonen as Nina Kautsalo
* Pihla Viitala as Marita Kautsalo
* Venla Ronkainen [fi] as Venla Kautsalo
* Susanna Haavisto as Elina Kautsalo
* Inka Kallén [fi] as Sari Nikander (S1 — S2)
* Kari Ketonen as Jaakko Stenius
* Mikko Leppilampi as Esko Kangasniemi
* Taneli Mäkelä as Reino Ylikorpi

### Season 1

* Maximilian Brückner as Thomas Lorenz
* Jari Virman as Raunola
* Clemens Schick as Marcus Eiben
* Joi Johansson as Jens Mathiesen
* Janne Kataja as Niilo Aikio
* Maria Ylipää as Gunilla Lorenz
* Kari Hietalahti as Hamari
* Kristo Salminen as Reidar Hamari
* Alina Tomnikov as Lana

### Season 2

* Maxim Busel as Victor Zujev
* Mikko Nousiainen as Toni Kajanne
* Wenla Reimaluoto [fi] as Aava Lahti
* Walt Klink [nl] as Justin Merriman
* John Finn as Gordon Merriman
* Andrius Paulavicius as Nikolai Kurakin

## Episodes

| Series | Episodes | Episodes | Originally released | Originally released |
| Series | Episodes | Episodes | First released | Last released |
| 1 | 10 | 10 | 21 December 2018 (2018-12-21) | 4 January 2019 (2019-01-04) |
| 2 | 6 | 6 | 19 December 2021 (2021-12-19) | 2 January 2022 (2022-01-02) |
| 3 | 6 | 6 | 4 October 2023 (2023-10-04) | 8 November 2023 (2023-11-08) |

### Season 1 (2018-19)

| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date |
| 1 | 1 | "Cellar" (Kellari) | Hannu Salonen | Unknown | 21 December 2018 (2018-12-21) |
| 2 | 2 | "Traces in the Snow" (Jäljet lumessa) | Hannu Salonen | Unknown | 21 December 2018 (2018-12-21) |
| 3 | 3 | "The Storm Rises" (Myrsky nousee) | Hannu Salonen | Unknown | 21 December 2018 (2018-12-21) |
| 4 | 4 | "Eye for an Eye" (Silmä silmästä) | Hannu Salonen | Unknown | 29 December 2018 (2018-12-29) |
| 5 | 5 | "God Is Good" (Jumalan terve) | Hannu Salonen | Unknown | 29 December 2018 (2018-12-29) |
| 6 | 6 | "The First Victim" (Ensimmäinen uhri) | Hannu Salonen | Unknown | 29 December 2018 (2018-12-29) |
| 7 | 7 | "Predator" (Saalistaja) | Hannu Salonen | Unknown | 29 December 2018 (2018-12-29) |
| 8 | 8 | "Carrier" (Taudinkantajat) | Hannu Salonen | Unknown | 4 January 2019 (2019-01-04) |
| 9 | 9 | "Murmansk" (Murmansk) | Hannu Salonen | Unknown | 4 January 2019 (2019-01-04) |
| 10 | 10 | "Venla" (Venla) | Hannu Salonen | Unknown | 4 January 2019 (2019-01-04) |

### Season 2 (2021-22)

| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date |
| 11 | 1 | "The Latest Police" (Uusin poliisi) | Jussi Hiltunen | Iiro Küttner | 19 December 2021 (2021-12-19) |
| 12 | 2 | "In the Middle of Nowhere" (Keskellä ei mitään) | Jussi Hiltunen | Iiro Küttner | 19 December 2021 (2021-12-19) |
| 13 | 3 | "Catch" (Saalis) | Jussi Hiltunen | Reeta Ruotsalainen | 26 December 2021 (2021-12-26) |
| 14 | 4 | "Justice" (Oikeus ja kohtuus) | Jussi Hiltunen | Reeta Ruotsalainen | 2 January 2022 (2022-01-02) |
| 15 | 5 | "Guilty" (Syyllinen) | Jussi Hiltunen | Aleksi Delikouras | 9 January 2022 (2022-01-09) |
| 16 | 6 | "Parents" (Vanhemmat) | Jussi Hiltunen | Aleksi Delikouras | 16 January 2022 (2022-01-16) |

### Season 3 (2023)

| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date |
| 17 | 1 | "Return" (Paluu) | Juha Lankinen | Iiro Küttner | 4 October 2023 (2023-10-04) |
| 18 | 2 | "Lost and Found" (Löytötavara) | Juha Lankinen | Iiro Küttner | 11 October 2023 (2023-10-11) |
| 19 | 3 | "Hide and Seek" (Piilossa) | Juha Lankinen | Iiro Küttner | 18 October 2023 (2023-10-18) |
| 20 | 4 | "Mess" (Sotku) | Juha Lankinen | Iiro Küttner | 25 October 2023 (2023-10-25) |
| 21 | 5 | "Breaking and Entering" (Murto ja varkaus) | Juha Lankinen | Iiro Küttner | 1 November 2023 (2023-11-01) |
| 22 | 6 | "Event" (Julkistus) | Juha Lankinen | Iiro Küttner | 8 November 2023 (2023-11-08) |

## Production

In November 2017, it was announced that the main cast would consist of Iina Kuustonen, Maximilian Brückner, Clemens Schick and Pihla Viitala. It was also announced that filming of season one would begin in Finland later that month, on the 27th of November 2017. Filming of season 2 took place in Finnish Lapland during the autumn of 2020 and later winter/early spring of 2021.

## Release

The series aired on ZDF in Germany in 2020. In North America the rights to the series were acquired by Topic. As part of its ongoing distribution deal Lagardère Studios Distribution also sold the rights to Polar+ (France), RTS (Switzerland), BeTV (Belgium), Videotron (Canada), NPO (The Netherlands), IVI (Russia), Canal Plus (Poland), RTP (Portugal), Cosmopolitan TV (Spain), Elisa (China) and FTV Outre-mer 1e (France overseas).