Viaplay November 2025 Exclusive U.S. Premieres: “Vanguard”; “Meaning of Life,” Season 2; “A Life’s Worth” [VIDEO]

Vanguard – Award-winning, real-life Succession

Exclusive U.S. Premiere

Tuesdays, November 18 (two episodes at launch, then one episode per week through Tuesday, December 9)

Awards: Kristallen Awards 2025 (Swedish Emmys) – win for Best Actor (Jakob Oftebro) and nominations for ‘Best Drama’ and ‘Best Supporting Actor’ (Malin Crépin) as well as Monte-Carlo TV Festival 2025 Best Series and Best Actor awards

The five-part, award-winning drama series features high-stakes deals, groundbreaking innovation, and fierce family rivalries. With a fast-paced, cinematic approach, the series follows the rise of a visionary disruptor who turned family feuds into a media empire that reshaped Nordic TV and inspired global players as well as the personal sacrifices behind power.

At 35, Jan Stenbeck (Jakob Oftebro, Black Crab, Agent Hamilton, Kon-tiki) appears to have it all: a prestigious career at Morgan Stanley, a glamorous life in New York City, and a budding romance with American socialite Merrill McCloud (Zoe Boyle, Downton Abbey, Frontier). But when tragedy strikes his family in Sweden, he is thrust into a leadership role at Kinnevik, the family’s esteemed industrial group.

What follows is a high-stakes battle between tradition and innovation, as Jan’s visionary ideas clash with his siblings’ conservative approach (Malin Crépin as sister Margaretha). His relentless ambition reshapes the Nordic media and telecom landscape – breaking Sweden’s telephone monopoly and launching TV3, Scandinavia’s first commercial channel. His bold strategies don’t just transform the Nordic market, they influence global players, inspiring Rupert Murdoch’s Sky TV model and laying the groundwork for Vodafone’s rise.

However, his meteoric ascent comes at a cost. Haunted by loneliness and strained family ties, Jan’s life is as tumultuous as it is transformative. Vanguard is the story of a visionary who revolutionized modern media but paid a personal price for his groundbreaking impact.

(5 episodes x 45′, Swedish and English with English subtitles)

SPOTLIGHT: DRAMEDY

Meaning of Life, Season 2 – Return of Award-Winning Dramedy

Exclusive U.S. Premiere

Thursday, November 6 with four episodes (final four episodes November 13)

Awards: Kristallen Awards (Swedish Emmys) – 2025 winner ‘Best Actress’ – Helena af Sandeberg, and 2025 and 2023 nominee for ‘Best Comedy’

Meaning of Life blends warmth and humor with a poignant look at life’s complexities, capturing the unexpected mix of joy and sadness in everyday moments and the gap between our deepest dreams and our daily realities. The series follows two siblings on different paths with a fresh look at the roads we decide to take in adulthood and the things we are willing to give up along the way.

In the second season, Mona (Anna Bjelkreud, Blinded), the mother of the sisters, returns to Sweden, marking a significant turning point in their lives. For Ellen (Helena Af Sandeberg, Mafia), who was thirteen when she left, this season is a transformative journey into adulthood. On the other hand, Alva (Celie Sparre, The Truth Will Out), who was only five when Mona left, views her more as an acquaintance, initially keeping their relationship relatively uncomplicated. However, throughout the season, she experiences the loss of Nico, embarks on a new career path, and achieves something she believed to be impossible, albeit in the completely wrong way. Meanwhile, Nico explores the dynamics of a nuclear family, while Alex encounters a new female boss who genuinely values his contributions.

(8 episodes x 30′, Swedish with English subtitles)

SPOTLIGHT: NEW BINGE

A Life’s Worth – Wartime drama inspired by true conflict

Exclusive U.S. Premiere

Thursdays, November 6-27 (Episodes 3-6)

Festival Acclaim: Series Mania 2025 (International Panorama Nominee) and Sarajevo Film Festival 2025 (Official Selection)

A Life’s Worth is a very stirring, exquisitely produced limited TV series inspired by the true story of the first Swedish UN battalion in Bosnia in 1993.

Marking Sweden’s most ambitious war series to date, the six-part Viaplay Original drama series centers on four young peacekeepers on their first overseas mission in the tangled and bloody conflict in the Balkans and discovering their goals are impossible by diplomatic means alone. Beyond the violence that quickly shocks the inexperienced newcomers, the meaning of their mission is soon put to the test: what room for action do they truly have, when their mandate binds them to neutrality?

Visually striking and emotionally charged, A Life’s Worth is not just a war drama – it’s a gripping exploration of duty, humanity, and the cost of peacekeeping in one of Europe’s most devastating modern conflicts.

Featuring an excellent up-and-coming cast including Edvin Ryding (Young Royals, 28 Years Later, No Time To Mourn/Gåsmamman, the upcoming Hunger Games prequel, Sunrise on the Reaping), Erik Enge (Tigers, Exit, End of Summer), Johan Rheborg (The Glass Dome, Sunny Side), Maxwell Cunningham (Top Dog, Blinded), and Toni Prince (Agent Hamilton, Beck).

(6 episodes x 45′, Swedish, English, Serbian, and Serbo-Croatian with English subtitles)

RECENT PREMIERES / AVAILABLE TO BINGE IN NOVEMBER

Little Did I Know (Feature Film, U.S. Premiere) – Based on the director’s two bestselling novels, this award-winning film just debuted in Sweden theaters last week to rave reviews and stars one of the country’s most popular actresses, Alexandra Rapaport (The Sandhamn Murders, No Time to Mourn, Veronika), as it follows one woman’s journeys of self-discovery spanning two life stages (ages 50 and 15), offering a painful yet hopeful view on love. (Trailer)

In the Name of Love – A dark, offbeat comedy based on the shocking and unusual real life of award-winning Norwegian director Bård Breien and his father’s success in the porn industry. Going back and forth between the 1970s and 1990s, this captivating coming-of-age drama unfolds a sharp, emotional, and humor-filled true portrait of love, identity, and family myths unraveling in real time. (Trailer)

Mafia – Described by The Wall Street Journal as a “sophisticated six-part thriller” and praised by Nordic Watchlist as “extremely well-written… you’ll love it,” this bold crime series follows the violent rise of a notorious gangster (Peshang Rad, Bäckström) and the lone cop (Katia Winter, The Boys, Dexter) pursuing him. (Trailer)

Chaos – Called “Dramedy with verve… brisk and frisky” (The New York Times), and akin to a more romantic Danish The Morning Show, the series follows the chaotic life and modern love story of a host of a popular morning program. (Trailer)

The Bunker – A chilling and shocking new true-crime docuseries about a woman who survived a torturous abduction and confronts her past trauma. (Trailer)

All and Eva – Following its rave reviews, three Swedish ‘Emmy’ nominations, and a record-breaking Swedish debut, the hilariously fresh take on the comedy-drama genre stars award-winning actress Tuva Novotny (#1 Netflix movie The Abyss, Annihilation). (Trailer) (The New York Times ‘Best International Shows’ of 2024 selection)

About Viaplay:

The Viaplay streaming service features thousands of hours of premium Nordic and European series and films from Scandinavia’s largest and most recognized television/streaming platform. Viaplay’s US content offering focuses on the Nordic region’s high-quality and psychologically penetrating titles: from atmospheric and suspenseful crime dramas and provocative and stylish young adult series to award-winning dramas and riveting documentaries. On par with the best on television, Viaplay series feature first-rate production values, incredible scenery, award-worthy acting, and edge-of-your-seat storylines. Viaplay is available as an add-on subscription on Prime Video Channels, The Roku Channel, Comcast Xfinity, and more for only $5.99 a month. All titles are available in their original language with English subtitles. Link: http://amazon.com/video/viaplayus