Fortitude final series to air in the run-up to Christmas
The Arctic chiller is returning to Sky Atlantic for a third and final four-part miniseries
On one hand, Sky Atlantic series Fortitude is an intense, disturbing, and often bloody, thriller. On the other, it's set in a snowy little town in the Arctic, not a million miles from the North Pole, and is perfect viewing as the long winter evenings draw in.
So maybe it's not as strange as it first seems that creator Simon Donald considers it "a Christmas show"...
- First look at "dark and twisted" Fortitude series 3
- Sky Atlantic’s Arctic thriller Fortitude to return for final four-part miniseries
- Fortitude creator Simon Donald answers some burning questions about the chilling drama
Sky certainly seem to agree with him when it comes to the timing of the third and final season, revealing exclusively to RadioTimes.com that it will air in the run-up to Christmas.
The first episode can be seen on Sky Atlantic on Thursday 6 December, with the rest following on consecutive Thursdays, and the conclusion to the four-part miniseries showing just two days after Christmas on 27 December.
However, Fortitude fans will also be pleased to know that they can watch all four episodes of the addictive drama immediately after the first part has aired on 6 December when it will appear in its entirety as a Sky On Demand Box Set.
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In previous series, the beleaguered citizens of Fortitude have battled prehistoric parasitic wasps, a crazed shaman and the results of a dubious science experiment inflicted on injured soldiers but writer Donald tells RadioTimes.com there's no need for the final series to introduce a new "monster" from outside the town.
"We don’t need to import a new monster from somewhere else, it’s all in our characters and in our world already," says Donald. "It goes to some really dark, twisted places – which is just where it wants to go, I can’t help that."
At the centre of the "dark and twisted" drama will remain Richard Dormer's maniacal Sheriff Dan Anderson, still battling the results of infection by the parasitic wasps of series one which have left him struggling to retain a grip on himself.
"This season’s been really character-driven, character based," says Donald. "And it ended up really examining the consequences of everything we’ve done so far to these poor people in this town in the middle of nowhere. They’re all scorched and damaged and changed by all the things we’ve been throwing at them – especially Dan – and that was really interesting. It becomes an examination of the disintegration of his emotional and moral personality."
The drama will pick up where it left off with as the citizens of Fortitude attempting to present a united front following the lynching, instigated by Dan, of puppet town governor Erling Munk, as outside forces come to investigate his death.
Fortitude season three will also see the return of other key characters, including trawlerman Michael Lennox (Dennis Quaid), scientists Natalie Yelburton (Sienna Guillory) and Vincent Rattrey (Luke Treadaway) and the rest of Fortitude's beleaguered police force, Sergeant Eric Odegard (Björn Hlynur Haraldsson) and Constables Ingrid Witrey (Mia Jexen) and Petra Bergen (Alexandra Moen).
Fortitude season three begins on Sky Atlantic on Thursday 6 December with the full series available as a Sky On Demand Box Set immediately afterwards
This article was originally published on 31 October 2018
