Video Interview: Lilyhammer’s Steven Van Zandt

NEW YORK: The series Lilyhammer makes its debut next month on Netflix, and star Steven Van Zandt talks to World Screen about the significance of the deal with the online streaming and rental service as well as the show’s international appeal.

Best known as guitarist in Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band and from his work in HBO’s The Sopranos, Zandt leads the cast of the new series Lilyhammer. He plays Frank “The Fixer” Tagliano, a New York mobster who is forced into the Witness Protection Program after testifying against his Mafia boss. He is then relocated to the quiet Norwegian town of Lillehammer, where he struggles to adjust to the Scandinavian way of life.

A Norwegian original, the dramedy, produced by Rubicon TV and distributed by SevenOne International, has already proven its global appeal. The eight-part series was quickly scooped up by Netflix, which debuts the show on February 6 in the U.S., Canada and Latin America. It will mark the service’s first original launch, to be followed by House of Cards, starring Kevin Spacey, and the revival of Arrested Development. Netflix is also on board to co-produce a second season of Lilyhammer.