With the new Faroese-Danish crime TV series TROM set to premiere on February 13th on Scandinavian streaming platform Viaplay, a final trailer for the series was released earlier this week.
The opening season of TROM, consisting of six episodes, follows main character Hannis Martinsson (Ulrich Thomsen), a journalist in Denmark who unexpectedly receives a message from Sonja, his estranged daughter, claiming that her life is in danger. Martinsson thus reluctantly returns to his native Faroe Islands to investigate the matter, only to stumble upon Sonja’s dead body in the bloody waters of a whale hunt. His search for answers soon brings him into conflict with the local police and uncovers a web of secrets within the close-knit community.
Scripted by Torfinnur Jákupsson, the series is based on novels originally written by Jógvan Isaksen featuring the Martinsson character.
Apart from Danish actor Thomsen as the lead, other prominent roles are filled by Danish actress Maria Rich and Faroese actor Olaf Johannessen. The remaining list of actors includes Sissal Drew Hjaltalin, Mariann Hansen, Helena Heðinsdóttir, Hans Tórgarð, Gunnvá Zachariasen, and Búi Dam.
TROM is the first series of its kind to be shot in the Faroe Islands, and the Faroese setting is precicely what makes the series special, according to Thomsen.
“We haven’t seen much of the Faroe Islands in films or TV series like this before,” he noted in an interview with a KvF radio program in late January. “We have seen many films and series set in places like New York and LA, but not in the Faroe Islands. The fact that the setting is Faroese is exactly what makes TROM so interesting for the viewer.”
Thomsen added that in his opinion the Faroes could be the setting of more projects like this, with better equipment.
It will hardly escape the viewer’s notice that although the series is set in the Faroe Islands, based on Faroese novels, and features a protagonist who is supposed to be Faroese, Thomsen speaks Danish in the series.
One simple reason being, of course, that Thomsen doesn’t speak Faroese.
“I was originally supposed to speak Faroese, but Faroese is difficult to learn,” he told KvF. “You would have immediately noticed that I am not Faroese.”
The explanation given in the show is reportedly that Thomsen’s character, Hannis Martinsson has spent most of his life in Denmark and now, upon his return to the islands, refuses to speak Faroese.
