Lilyhammer (2012–2014) is a Norwegian-American crime comedy-drama series created by Anne Bjørnstad and Eilif Skodvin. The series stars Steven Van Zandt as Frank “The Fixer” Tagliano, a former New York mobster who testifies against his old associates and enters the witness protection programme. Given the chance to choose a new life, Frank asks to be relocated to Lillehammer, Norway, after remembering the town from the 1994 Winter Olympics. Under the identity Giovanni “Johnny” Henriksen, he tries to adapt to Norwegian society, but quickly begins using old criminal methods to deal with bureaucracy, business problems, local conflicts and his new surroundings. The series combines gangster drama, fish-out-of-water comedy and satire of Norwegian social systems, contrasting Frank’s direct, American mafia logic with the rules, manners and welfare-state structures of a small Norwegian town.
Lilyhammer was filmed mainly in Lillehammer, and the real town is central to the identity of the series. The production uses the former Olympic host city not as a generic winter backdrop, but as a recognisable Norwegian setting of snowy streets, wooden houses, hillsides, ski culture, local businesses, public offices and small-town social networks. Frank’s nightclub, The Flamingo, became one of the show’s most recognisable places and was filmed around the old brewery area in central Lillehammer, connected to Bryggerigata and the former Brenneriet/Bryggeriet environment. The series also uses Lillehammer’s streets, bridges, residential areas and surrounding winter landscape to show Frank’s strange new life in Gudbrandsdalen, where ordinary Norwegian places become the setting for mafia-style negotiations, threats, favours and business schemes. Later seasons expand the geography beyond Lillehammer, with filming also taking place in Oslo, New York, Rio de Janeiro and Lofoten, reflecting how Frank’s old life and new life keep colliding. Even with these wider locations, Lilyhammer remains strongly tied to Lillehammer itself: the town’s Olympic memory, snow-covered centre, local institutions and compact community are what make the series’ cultural clash work.
1847 Brenneriet
1847 Brenneriet appears in Lilyhammer (2012–2014). In the series, the location is used for The Flamingo, the nightclub opened by Frank Tagliano.
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