Katla on Netflix: New Icelandic Series May Be Your Next Summer Binge

Season 1 of Katla is now available to stream on Netflix. Lilja Jonsdottir/Netflix

Netflix’s greatest advantage in the ongoing streaming wars is its unrivaled years long investments into international programming. Early on in its original content run, the market-leading streaming service’s executives made the conscious decision to target movies and series that travel across markets and appeal to vast regions of the world outside of the United States. La Casa De Papel (Money Heist), Dark, Lupin, Elite, Unorthodox and countless other non-English series have emerged as popular successes. Now, Netflix execs are hoping Icelandic series Katla can make a similar impact.

In Iceland, after the subglacial volcano Katla has been erupting constantly for a whole year, Gríma is still looking for her missing sister who disappeared the day the eruption started. As her hope of ever finding her body is fading, the residents of the surrounding area start to have visits from unexpected guests. There might be something hidden under the glacier no one could ever have foreseen.

Katla takes place in Vik, a small village on the South Coast of Iceland with a sparse population of just a few hundred people. Despite the area’s scenic beauty, it’s far from a tranquil home as the volcano engulfs the area in ash and a shadow of penetrating darkness. A year after Katla forced the evacuation of most of the town’s residents, the survivors still in place grapple with the aftermath of their shattered lives. But just as a sense of normalcy and routine begins to seep in, the appearance of a naked woman emerging from the glacier thrusts their lives into inexplicable directions.

Created by Sigurjón Kjartansson and Baltasar Kormákur, Katla marks Netflix’s first Icelandic show. There are strands of Dark‘s DNA visible here, with a small town gripped by a supernatural and atmospheric mystery caked in darkness. The neo-Noir uses natural disaster and folklore as the launching point for its unsettling center that lays out the gripping questions audiences may be hungry for answers (especially after HBO’s Mare of Easttown just ended).

If Katla turns out to be a hit, it provides Netflix with yet another overseas hub of programming. While rival streaming services continue to ramp up their international programming, Netflix already has a strong foothold in the attention spans of worldwide audiences.