If you thought revivals of ’80s and ’90s properties only applied to big-budget Hollywood productions, think again. Almost like he was taking a cue from “Twin Peaks: The Return,” Lars von Trier will be returning to an earlier period in his career and make a third and final season to his hospital drama “The Kingdom.”
Since he shocked Cannes audiences with his serial killer drama “The House That Jack Built” in 2018, the director had not announced a new project, until now. As announced by von Trier’s Zentropa Productions on Facebook, the cult hospital series von Trier directed between 1994 and 1997 will return with new episodes in 2022. “The Kingdom” is set in the neurosurgical ward of a Copenhagen hospital. The new and final season, dubbed “The Kingdom Exodus” is expected to shoot next year and consist of five hour-long episodes.
Von Trier has talked about returning to “The Kingdom” since the ’90s, but the project was never completed in part due to the death of key castmembers Ernst-Hugo Järegård and Kirsten Rolffes. Producers say the new season will see a mix of new and returning characters. Von Trier wrote the script with returning collaborator Niels Vørsel, and will be directing all five episodes.
Von Trier provided this statement on the return of the show:
“Borders come in many forms; they may be lines drawn with rulers on white paper (often invisible to whoever chances to visit the actual geographical locations). The lines of the borders may be illustrative, if not to say quite fictitious and downright mean; they may be drawon in a soft, red color, practically invisible, and perhaps even as a dotted line, almost as if indicating an apology or even – shame. Nevertheless, the lines hang there in inconceivable numbers, and together they constitute those ‘territories’ that the inhabitants are strong enough to defend. Entering and leaving often entail violence, for, of course, any visitor is expected to return after ending his or her business.
On Earth, “the Machine that makes everything go round (all life, that is)” is dependent on the conflicts which the lines provoke, as if by design. Whether Exodus actually means “entering” or “leaving” depends on the angle from which the border is observed, but the word simply describes a large number of individuals crossing a pencil-drawn line together.
Why?….. There is an imbalance between good and evil! The limit has been reached, at least at the Kingdom…. But I cannot testify that it will be easy and bloodless to pick the seven astral locks of the world simultaneously with doctor’s blood.”
Zentropa Productions also released two cryptic teasers: