Programme notes

Lilyhammer: was it really Netflix's first original?

A Norwegian mob comedy reached Netflix a year before House of Cards, but whether it counts as the service's first original depends on what you mean by 'original'.

Published 4 October 2026

Ask when Netflix started making its own television and most people will name February 2013, when House of Cards arrived. Yet a year earlier the service was already streaming a series it had announced as part of its original programming: Lilyhammer, a comedy-drama about a New York gangster hiding in a small Norwegian town. Whether that makes it Netflix's first original depends on how you define the word.

A Norwegian commission

Lilyhammer was created by Anne Bjørnstad and Eilif Skodvin and built around Steven Van Zandt, of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, who had played Silvio Dante in The Sopranos. Van Zandt is Frank Tagliano, a mobster who testifies against his boss, enters witness protection and asks to be sent to Lillehammer, the small town that hosted the 1994 Winter Olympics. The title nods to his dog, Lily, and to the way he and some other Americans pronounce the town's name.

The series was commissioned by the Norwegian public broadcaster NRK1 from the production company Rubicon TV, in association with Netflix and the distributor Red Arrow International. Netflix's part was announced in Cannes in October 2011 at the MIPCOM television market, where Ted Sarandos, its chief content officer, said Netflix was taking the first season and the planned second. The dialogue moves between English and Norwegian.

Norway first, then Netflix

NRK had planned to start the series on New Year's Day 2012 but held it back after a dispute with the producers over product placement, which was illegal under Norwegian law at the time. When the first episode finally aired on NRK1 on 25 January 2012, 998,000 people watched – roughly one in five Norwegians, and a record for an NRK drama.

Netflix followed on 6 February 2012, putting all eight first-season episodes online at once for subscribers in the United States and Canada; its rights covered North and Latin America. One small wrinkle: Wikipedia's main Netflix article gives the date as 8 February, but reports written at the time, in The Hollywood Reporter and Variety, point to 6 February. British viewers met the show on ordinary television, when BBC Four began showing it on 11 September 2012.

By the third season the partners were in step, and new episodes premiered on NRK1 and Netflix on the same day, 21 November 2014. In July 2015 Van Zandt announced that the series had been cancelled, and Netflix confirmed it was pulling out. NRK owns the rights.

How it has been described

Lilyhammer's place in Netflix history depends on who is telling it:

• Deadline, October 2011: Netflix was adding the show "to its original programming lineup".
• Variety, February 2012: Netflix chose Van Zandt "to anchor its first original series".
• Rolling Stone, December 2013: although it had aired first in Norway, "it was the first time that Netflix offered exclusive content".
• The Guardian, July 2013, writing about House of Cards: "The show was its first foray into original programming."

Netflix itself marketed House of Cards as its first "Netflix Original", and Wikipedia calls it the first series produced by a studio for Netflix. To complicate matters further, Netflix had dabbled before: its Red Envelope Entertainment division, which licensed and distributed independent films, began producing original content in late 2006 and was closed in 2008.

Lilyhammer and House of Cards compared

• Who ordered it: Lilyhammer was an NRK1 commission with Netflix as a partner; Netflix ordered House of Cards itself from the studio MRC, outbidding the cable channels.
• Where it premiered: Lilyhammer on Norwegian television on 25 January 2012, then on Netflix on 6 February; House of Cards on Netflix on 1 February 2013.
• First season: eight episodes against thirteen, both released in one go.
• Language: English and Norwegian against English.
• Recognition: Lilyhammer won Norway's Gullruten award for best TV drama in 2014; House of Cards won three Emmys from nine nominations in its first year.

So, was it the first?

It depends what you are counting. If "original" means a series Netflix carried exclusively in its markets and presented as its own, Lilyhammer got there first, and it was already released a season at a time. If it means a first-run series that Netflix commissioned itself, the title belongs to House of Cards, which Netflix ordered in March 2011 – the first first-run series commissioned specifically by the service. Both answers are defensible; they are answers to different questions.

What is clear is that Netflix's story of originals begins with a partnership with a public broadcaster, the same kind of arrangement that later produced Fleabag (BBC Three with Amazon) and Normal People (BBC Three with Hulu). Lilyhammer has stayed with Netflix too: its streaming arrangement has been extended to November 2029. Both shows sit on our Netflix page and our timeline.

Sources

1. Deadline: Netflix adds 'Lilyhammer' to TV lineup (3 Oct 2011, archived)
2. The Guardian: Netflix makes history as House of Cards takes top Emmy nominations (18 Jul 2013)
3. The Hollywood Reporter: Steven Van Zandt's 'Lilyhammer' breaks ratings records in Norway (27 Jan 2012)
4. Variety: The 'Sopranos' strategy behind Netflix's 'Lilyhammer' (Andrew Wallenstein, Feb 2012)
5. Rolling Stone: How 'Lilyhammer' changed the TV world (Andy Greene, 5 Dec 2013)
6. Norway's News in English: 'Lilyhammer' sets new NRK record (26 Jan 2012)
7. Wikipedia: Lilyhammer
8. Wikipedia: Netflix
9. Wikipedia: House of Cards (American TV series)
10. Wikipedia: House of Cards (British TV series)
11. Wikipedia: Fleabag
12. Wikipedia: Normal People (TV series)