The hit drama Skam captured the hearts of teens around the world during its brief four season run, many calling it a “Norwegian Skins.” The fandom is real: viewers translated the show into different language themselves and uploaded the captioned clips on to YouTube and Tumblr. Skam managed to inspire an ardent following largely because of its bold approach to under-represented narratives. It centered an entire season around a Muslim female protagonist, depicted the intersection of queerness and mental health issues, and explored the struggle of having an eating disorder. It also earned loyalty through its unique format. Viewers were able to follow characters practically 24/7 through fictitious status updates, texts, and clips filmed on iPhones and then uploaded to the show’s website. Now, the Norwegian channel behind Skam has created a sibling show to the international hit. Titled Blank, the new young adult drama will focus on life after high school (most Norwegian teens graduate at 19), NRK confirmed.
Not much is known about Blank. A site for the show seemingly appeared out of nowhere this week. On it, you’ll find texts from characters named Mats and Ragner and a group text chain. There’s also a short two minute preview. We don’t speak Norwegian, so if anyone is able to translate we’d be forever grateful. Either way, Blank looks like it’ll be just as bold and innovative as the show that inspired it. Especially because so few shows have realistically depicted the painful, awkward stage of leaving high school and entering young adulthood.
International adaptations of Skam are popping up too. The French and Italian versions have already earned fans’ seal of approval. The American Skam (titled Shame) is currently being filmed in Austin, Texas and will air on Facebook’s new video platform later this year. Shame is being produced by the creator and writer of Skam, Julie Andem, so we have good faith it’ll be just as stellar as the original.