The Legacy (TV series)
| The Legacy | |
|---|---|
 Title card | |
| Also known as | Arvingerne |
| Created by | Maya Ilsøe |
| Written by | Maya Ilsøe Maja Jul Larsen Anders August Lolita Belstar Karina Dam Per Daumiller Lasse Kyed Rasmussen |
| Directed by | Pernilla August Louise Friedberg Jesper Christensen Heidi Maria Faisst |
| Starring | Trine Dyrholm Jesper Christensen Marie Bach Hansen Carsten Bjørnlund Mikkel Boe Følsgaard |
| Country of origin | Denmark |
| Original language | Danish |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 26 |
| Production | |
| Running time | 1 hour |
| Original release | |
| Network | DR |
| Release | 1 January 2014 – 26 February 2017 |
The Legacy (Danish: Arvingerne, lit. 'The Heirs') is a Danish television drama series created by Maya Ilsøe and produced by DR, starring Trine Dyrholm, Carsten Bjørnlund, Marie Bach Hansen, and Mikkel Boe Følsgaard. The series is a family drama, telling the story of four siblings trying to cope with the fallout from their mother's death, which has turned all of their lives upside down.
The first season, consisting of ten episodes, premiered on DR1 on 1 January 2014. The second season of seven episodes aired from 1 January 2015, and the third season of nine episodes began on 1 January 2017. The series won several awards, and was sold to over 40 countries.
Synopsis
The Legacy starts out at the legendary manor Grønnegaard on southern Funen, where the internationally renowned artist Veronika Grønnegaard has lived an eccentric and colourful life since the wild sixties. The series follows Veronika's four adult children, whose free and chaotic childhood at Grønnegaard has left its mark on them in very different ways. They live scattered around the country (and Emil, out of it, in Thailand), until Veronika unexpectedly dies and they are forced to gather to wind up the estate. Just before she dies, Veronika leaves the manor to her daughter Signe, who was given up for adoption. Signe lives with her partner in a quiet residential area in the local town and had not previously known the truth of her parentage, although her adoptive parents, the Larsens, did know. Each of the children had different relationships with the matriarch, and each also have complications in their own lives.
The second season of The Legacy begins one year after the events of the first. The third season begins three years after the events of season two.
Cast
| Character | Season 1 (2014) |
Season 2 (2015) |
Season 3 (2017) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gro Grønnegaard | Trine Dyrholm | ||
| Frederik Grønnegaard | Carsten Bjørnlund | ||
| Emil Grønnegaard | Mikkel Boe Følsgaard | ||
| Signe Larsen | Marie Bach Hansen | ||
| Veronika Grønnegaard | Kirsten Olesen | ||
| Thomas Konrad | Jesper Christensen | ||
| Lone Ramsbøll | Kirsten Lehfeldt | ||
| Solveig Riis Grønnegaard | Lene Maria Christensen | ||
| Robert Eliassen | Trond Espen Seim | ||
| John Larsen | Jens Jørn Spottag | ||
| Lise Larsen | Annette Katzmann | ||
| Hannah Grønnegaard | Karla Løkke | ||
| Villads Grønnegaard | Victor Stoltenberg Nielsen | ||
| Melody | Naya Beck | Smilla Hougaard | |
| Isa Varlø | Josephine Park[1][2] | ||
Production and themes
According to Trine Dyrholm, one of the series' themes is the legacy of "the 1968 generation".[3]
Before filming the third season, Dyrholm said, "The second season is kind of the aftermath of the war – the war within the family – a new order has been established. The first season was about where you come from, and the second season is how you live with that, and the third season should be something about what kind of imprint you leave".[3]
Release
The first season of The Legacy aired on DR1 from 1 January 2014. It was sold to a number of other countries worldwide before its Denmark premiere.[4]
Screening rights were sold to over 40 countries,[5] including:
- United Kingdom: Sky Arts in November 2014;[6] released as a box set of DVDs in 2015[7]
- Australia: SBS Television from 15 April 2015[8][9]
- United States: Released first on DVD in April 2015; broadcast on MHz Worldview over five consecutive evenings in June 2015[10]
Following the success of the first season, a second season consisting of seven episodes began airing on Danish television on 1 January 2015.[11] In the UK, the second season began airing on 12 June 2015,[3] and in Australia on 30 August 2016.[9]
The third and final season aired weekly from 1 January to 26 February 2017 on DR1.[12]
Reception
The first season reached nearly 2 million viewers in Denmark, of a population of 5.6 million.[7]
In July 2014, the rights were sold to Universal Cable Productions, the production arm of NBCUniversal Media Group, who planned to develop an American version with Hypnotic.[13] At that point, the original had not been screened in the US.[5]
Critical reception
Gerard Gilbert, writing for The Independent, called the first season "one of the best TV dramas of the past year or so".[3]
Kylie Northover of The Sydney Morning Herald praised the acting and described the series as "beautifully, moodily filmed".[9] Another Australian reviewer, writing for The Toowoomba Chronicle, called it "the best new series on TV this year.... just superior TV. It's well acted, sophisticated, oddly claustrophobic and compelling".[8]
Rebecca Rose, writing for the Financial Times after discovering the series during the COVID-19 pandemic, described it as "the Danish successor to Succession", the American series that aired from 2018, and praised its writing and characterisation.[14]
Accolades
References
- ^ "Josephine Park". Danish Film Database (in Danish). Archived from the original on 13 November 2025. Retrieved 31 January 2026.
- ^ "Josephine Park: "Jeg har altid oplevet kernefamilien som omklamrende"". ELLE (in Danish). 29 April 2022. Archived from the original on 31 January 2026. Retrieved 1 February 2026.
- ^ a b c d Gilbert, Gerard (8 June 2015). "'The Legacy' returns: Trine Dyrholm on how the new series throws light on the family secrets that we all have". The Independent. Archived from the original on 17 November 2025. Retrieved 8 September 2025.
- ^ Lerche Kristiansen, Annegerd (11 December 2013). "DRs Arvingerne solgt til udlandet inden premieren". DR (in Danish). Archived from the original on 21 January 2025. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
- ^ a b Rossing Jensen, Jorn (5 December 2014). "The Legacy sold for US remake, while Deceived waits in the wings". Cineuropa. Archived from the original on 8 September 2025. Retrieved 8 September 2025.
- ^ Lawson, Mark (26 November 2014). "The Legacy completes an unofficial Scandi-drama trilogy". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 17 November 2025. Retrieved 8 September 2025.
- ^ a b Collins, Andrew (20 February 2015). "The Legacy – box set review: 'an utterly addictive Danish inheritance saga'". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 8 March 2024. Retrieved 8 September 2025.
- ^ a b "Danish drama The Legacy best new series on TV this year". The Toowoomba Chronicle. 11 April 2015. Archived from the original on 1 March 2026. Retrieved 8 September 2025.
- ^ a b c Northover, Kylie (26 August 2016). "TV's most dysfunctional family returns in season 2 of The Legacy". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 17 November 2025. Retrieved 8 September 2025.
- ^ Jew, Linda (22 May 2015). "The Legacy: Megahit Danish Drama Premiering in the US". The Euro TV Place. Archived from the original on 15 July 2025. Retrieved 8 September 2025.
- ^ Erlendsson, Kirsten (4 December 2014). "'Arvingerne' vender tilbage - med en stor hemmelighed". B.T. (in Danish). Archived from the original on 26 January 2025. Retrieved 4 December 2014.
- ^ Ravn Nielsen, Marie (2 January 2017). "'Arvingerne' modtages med både glæde og træthed af anmelderne". DR (in Danish). Archived from the original on 18 November 2025. Retrieved 18 November 2025.
- ^ Goldberg, Lesley (14 July 2014). "Doug Liman to Adapt Hot Danish Drama 'The Legacy' (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 5 July 2022. Retrieved 8 September 2025.
- ^ Rose, Rebecca (23 April 2020). "BingeWatch: The Legacy is the Danish successor to Succession". Financial Times. Retrieved 8 September 2025.
- ^ "Land of Mine wins 3 Bodil Awards". Danish Film Institute. 7 March 2016. Archived from the original on 28 November 2021. Retrieved 18 November 2025.
- ^ Durie, John (27 January 2014). "Double Win For The Legacy In Biarritz". Nordisk Film & TV Fond. Archived from the original on 1 December 2024. Retrieved 18 November 2025.
- ^ "Robert Awards winners 2015". Danish Film Institute. 5 February 2015. Archived from the original on 27 January 2022. Retrieved 2 November 2025.
- ^ "Robert-priser 2016". Danish Film Institute (in Danish). 8 February 2016. Archived from the original on 27 March 2023. Retrieved 18 November 2025.
- ^ "Winter Brothers Wins Best Film at Robert Awards". Danish Film Institute. 5 February 2018. Archived from the original on 20 January 2022. Retrieved 2 November 2025.
- ^ Durie, John (18 August 2014). "The Legacy Best TV Drama At Danish TV Awards". Nordisk Film & TV Fond. Archived from the original on 8 September 2025. Retrieved 18 November 2025.
External links
- The Legacy at IMDb
- Arvingerne on DR (archived 2023)