Nellie Andreeva

EXCLUSIVE: On the heels of AMC’s successful adaptation of award-winning Danish drama series Forbrydelsen as The Killing, NBC is hoping to do the same with another praised Danish drama, Borgen aka Government, which has been hailed as The Killing‘s successor. Friday Night Lights executive producer David Hudgins will write the script and will executive produce the adaptation with FNL developer/executive producer Jason Katims. Universal Television, where both Hudgins and Katims are under overall deals, will produce, with BBC Worldwide Prods., which brought in the project, also expected to be involved, with Jane Tranter and Julie Gardner executive producing.

From the same producers as The Killing, public broadcaster DR/Danish Broadcasting Corp., Borgen focuses on  the fight for political power and its consequences. It centers on smart and sexy 40-year-old populist party leader Birgitte Nyborg (Sidse Babett Knudsen) who scores a surprise election victory only to discover the biggest challenge of her life is yet to come.

With its dissection of political gamesmanship and a mix of characters that include politicians, media spinners and reporters, Borgen has been compared to NBC’s White House drama The West Wing. Like Aaron Sorkin’s Emmy-winning series, it too is named after a building that houses a branch of the government — Borgen is the nickname for Denmark’s Parliamentary building. UTA-repped Hudgins most recently co-ran with Katims the final season of Friday Night Lights, which earned 4 Emmy nominations, including best drama series, and won 2, best drama writing for the Katims-penned series finale and best actor in a drama series for Kyle Chandler. Hudgins created Fox’s short-lived drama Past Life and is now working again with Katims on the NBC dramedy Parernthood. Here is a trailer for Borgen, which will be carried in the US by Link TV:

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