Unnur Birna Backman leads Icelandic thriller Elma

FIRST LOOK: Unnur Birna Backman plays the title character in Elma, an upcoming Icelandic crime thriller based on the novels and characters created by Eva Björg Ægisdóttir.

Produced by Glassriver and due to air later in 2026, the series is set in the small port town of Akrane, Iceland, where police detective Elma returns to her hometown after a personal trauma in hopes of finding peace at work. However, she quickly receives hints about an old case that was never solved, involving a young girl who disappeared 30 years ago.

Reykjavík Fusion and Black Sands star Backman, who also voiced Raya in Disney animated feature Raya and the Last Dragon, plays Elma, with Nikulás Hansen Daðason (Brjann, Skviz) as Saevar.

Directed by Katrín Björgvinsdóttir (Entrapped, As Long As We Live) and Thora Hilmarsdóttir (The Rising, Katla), the series is written by Karen Björg Eyfjörð Þorsteinsdóttir (Ordinary People).

Mediawan Rights is handling international distribution with MTV Finland. Other coproducers include Lunanime in Belgium. The series will air in Iceland on Síminn.

Ægisdóttir’s Elma books have been translated into 23 languages and are particularly popular in France. The first novel, The Creak on the Stairs, was published in French in 2021 and quickly became a bestseller there, while the second, Girls Who Lie, reached over 100,000 readers in France.

tagged in: Elma, Eva Björg Ægisdóttir, Glassriver, Lunanime, Mediawan Rights, MTV3, Unnur Birna Backman