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Before all the Demogorgons in Stranger Things, the deadly unhinged plays in Squid Games and the prison orange jumpsuits in Orange is the New Black, Netflix kicked things off with something completely unexpected. It was a fish out of water mobster tale set in snowy Norway.
While many assume House of Cards or Orange Is the New Black started it all, it was actually Lilyhammer that quietly opened the doors in 2012.
Lilyhammer: The First Netflix Original
This three-season crime drama flew under the radar for years. The show, led by The Sopranos’ Steven Van Zandt, was a collaboration between Netflix and Norway’s broadcaster NRK which made it the streamer’s first global storytelling experiment.
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The story follows Frank Tagliano, an ex-mobster from New York who turns informant and enters witness protection. But, instead of hiding away in some quiet American suburb, he asks to be relocated to Lillehammer, a Norwegian town he became obsessed with after watching the 1994 Winter Olympics.
There, under a new identity as Giovanni “Johnny” Henriksen, Frank tries to blend in and start fresh. That plan though, doesn’t go very smoothly. His old-school mafia ways soon start clashing with local norms. From bribery to intimidation, he begins influencing the town the only way he knows how, which puts him at odds with small-time crooks and the local police alike.
Fans Are Finally Discovering Lilyhammer in 2025
Years later, viewers are finally catching on. In a Reddit thread where someone was looking for hidden gems, Lilyhammer suddenly popped up with fans calling it underrated and different.
I’m looking for some good Netflix recommendations
byu/AndreiRED0 innetflix
On Rotten Tomatoes, one viewer wrote, “The acting was good and the story and theme kept me interested until the very end. A must watch must watch for fans of mobster movies .”
Another said, “It may sound quite strange, but most comedies today forget thar their main goal should be to make people laugh. Fortunately, this is not the case with Lillyhammer. Unapologetically funny, clever and with beautiful scenery, it is quite hard no to binge it. A truly hidden Netflix gem.”
A third penned, “Great mix of intrigue and comedy. A show that doesn’t take itself too seriously and delivers hours of entertainment. No political correct indoctrination which is strange for a show produced by Netflix. Not agenda. Just good writing and great acting. You’ll really feel for the characters.”
The Legacy of Lilyhammer in Netflix’s Global Success
According to Deadline, when the series hit its ten-year mark in 2022, Netflix’s CEO Ted Sarandos looked back at it as a bold first step.
“Looking back, Lilyhammer was perhaps an unorthodox choice for our first show. But it worked because it was a deeply local story that we could share with the world,” he said. “The jokes and references worked locally and the more universal themes of the shows traveled perfectly.”
He continued: “Since then, we’ve seen so many great local stories resonate with people in other countries and from other cultures: shows and films set anywhere and told in any language. Lilyhammer was the forebearer of so many great shows to come – Dark Desire and Who Killed Sara? from Mexico, La Casa de Papel from Spain, The Rain and The Chestnut Man from Denmark, Dark and Barbarians from Germany, Lupin from France, Sacred Games from India, and of course, most recently, Squid Game from Korea, our biggest show ever. But the first always will be Lilyhammer.”
All three seasons of Lilyhammer are now streaming on Netflix.
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