Swedish Boys (TV series)

  

Swedish Boys
Genre	Historial fiction Crime drama
Created by	George Knight
Starring	Felix Karlsson Annabelle Tierney Anton West Wilhelm Mueller Mark Williams Connor Gus
Theme music composer	Frederick Huntz
Opening theme	Blue and Yellow by Frederick Huntz
Ending theme	Back the Black by Frederick Huntz
Country of origin	Superior
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	31
Production
Executive producer(s)	George Knight Erik Cosner
Producer(s)	Benjamin White Maria Christopher
Running time	50–60 minutes
Production company(s)	Knight Productions SBC Studios Screen Duluth
Distributor	SBC Studios
Release
Original network	SBC (Superior) Webbox (international)
Picture format	1080i (16:9 HDTV)
Audio format	Stereo 5.1 Surround Sound
Original release	March 20, 2019 (2019-03-20) – present

Swedish Boys is a Superian historical crime drama television series created by George Knight. Set in Duluth, Arrowhead, the series follows a fictionalized version of the Swedish Boys street gang as the work to survive the change brought by the 1950s and 1960s.

Swedish Boys features a notable cast of Superian actors and actresses, starring Felix Karlsson as Thomas Andersson, the gang's fictional leader, Annabelle Tierney as Greta Andersson, Thomas's sister and close lieutenant, and Wilhelm Mueller as Henry Gasslinger, Duluth's chief of police and the main enemy of the gang. The show also has numerous guest appearances by a number of Superian actors, including Jesse Westen and Heinrich Sweet. The show premiered on March 20, 2019 on SBC and would quickly become one of the channel's most popular shows, racking a viewership of TBD on its first season. Following the conclusion of the first season, the show would appear on the streaming service Webbox, opening it up to an international audience.

In 2019, the show would win its first Anglo-American Primetime Award and would go onto to win the Most Watched Streaming Show in both 2020 and 2021. According to showrunner George Knight, he plans to take the show all the way to the 1969 Murphy Riot, though was open to the idea of continuing the show well into the 1990s, where the real life membership and prominence of the Swedish Boys in Superior began to decline. In 2021, Knight announce plans to create a prequel series following the life of a young Thomas and Greta Andersson in the early 1930s.

Overview

Swedish Boys follows the life and proceedings of a fictionalized version of the street gang with the same name, primarily centered around the gang's ambitious leader Thomas Andersson and his family. The show is also highlights the efforts by the city's police department, primarily Chief of Police Henry Gasslinger's, attempts to disband the gang. The first season is set at the beginning of the 1950s, with the gang's influence and membership rising as Duluth experience economic instability and rampant political corruption. This rise in both prominence and membership is primarily credited to the leader of the gang Thomas Andersson, who's effective recruitment campaigns attracts the ire of newly-appointed Chief of the Duluth Police Henry Gasslinger. In order to restore law and order to the largely lawless Duluth, Gasslinger initiates a campaign to crush gang influence in the city, primarily targeting the Swedish Boys, who Gasslinger has a personal grudge against. With a renewed effort to crush the gang by the city's police, a new war with the gang's historic rivals, the Norwegian Mob, and attempts to influence and control the gang by Continental agents, the season follows Andersson and his attempts to keep the gang together despite the odds. The season would end following it's tenth episode, where Gasslinger and Andersson would reluctantly establish a truce between each other in order to defeat the season's primary antagonist Andrew Locke, a Continental agent who had tried to establish control over the gang since the beginning of the season.

Season 2 would take place in the mid to late 1950s, with the Swedish Boys attempting to expand nationwide, which had been planned by the ambitious Thomas since the start of his tenure as the gang's leader. Under pressure by Duluth officials, primarily newly-elected city councilwoman Julie Andrews, a populist and law and order politician, Gasslinger would renew attempts to crush the Swedish Boys, breaking the years-long truce between him and Andersson. While dealing with the renew police threat and trying to expand the gang into New Hamburg, Andersson also has to combat the number of personal issues arising from his dedication to the gang, including a deteriorating relationship with his sister and second-in-command Greta Andersson and the return of his estranged teenage son, Sven Andersson, who detests his family's history in crime and is jealous of his father's relationship with his protégé, Stefan Erikson. The season would end following it's eleventh episode, where after ruining Gasslinger's reputation by outsmarting his rival and being able to expand gang influence outside of Duluth, Thomas suffers a blow as his personal life crumbles, with Sven being hospitalized after an attack by Norwegian mobsters and his sister Greta leaving the city in order to gather herself.

A third season is set to premiere in December of 2021.

Cast and characters

Character	Portrayed by	Seasons
		1	2
Main characters
Thomas Andersson	Felix Karlsson	Main
Greta Andersson	Annabelle Tierney	Main
Chief Henry Gasslinger	Wilhelm Mueller	Main
Felix Johann	Anton West	Main
Stefan Erikson	Connor Gus	Main
Harold Gus	Mark Williams	Main
Andrew Locke	Gary Wiseman	Main	Does not appear
Julie Andrews	Macy Carter	Does not appear	Main
Sven Andersson	Thomas Bridges	Does not appear	Main
Bill "Shasta" Greene	Garrett Stevens	Does not appear	Main

Main

• Felix Andersson as Thomas Andersson, the leader of the Swedish Boys.
• Annabelle Tierney as Greta Andersson, second-in-command of the Swedish Boys and younger sister of Thomas.
• Wilhelm Mueller as Henry Gasslinger, the newly-appointed Chief of Police of Duluth.
• Anton West as Felix Johann, a member of the Swedish Boys and Thomas's childhood friend.
• Conner Gus as Stefan Erikson, a member of the Swedish Boys and Thomas's protégé.
• Mark Williams as Harold Geers, the leader of the Norwegian Mob, rivals of the Swedish Boys.
• Gary Wiseman as Andrew Locke (Season 1), a spy for the United Commonwealth who attempts to gain control of the gang.
• Macy Carter as Julie Andrews (Season 2-present), the first female member of the Duluth City Council and a vocal opponent of gang influence in Duluth.
• Garrett Stevens as Bill "Shasta" Greene (Season 2-present), a member of the Swedish Boys from Sierra.
• Thomas Bridges as Sven Andersson (Season 2-present; guest Season 1), the son of Thomas Andersson.
• Joachim Anderson as Derrick Moore Season 2-present), a member of the Swedish Boys and Greta's love interest.

Recurring

• Mary Thomas as Anna Andersson, the deceased wife of Thomas and mother of Sven.
• Jesse Weston as William J. Wallace (Season 1), a Sierran diplomat residing in Duluth.
• Todd Waterson as Father Michael, a Lutheran clergyman and ally of the Swedish Boys.
• Heinrich Sweet as Anders Andersson, the father of Thomas and Greta Andersson.
• Georg Meltzenberg as Adolf Splitz (Season 2 guest), a derzhavist politician and leader of the National Derzhavist Superian Workers Party.
• Zachary Allison as Rupert Gardner (Season 1 guest), the 5th Secretariat of the United Commonwealth and friend of Andrew Locke.
• Benson Evers as Philip K. Moore, the mayor of Duluth.
• Aaron Greene as George Miller III (Season 1), a descendant of former Superian president George Miller.

Episodes

Main article: List of Swedish Boys episodes

Season		Episodes		Originally released
				First released	Last released
	1	10		March 20, 2019 (2019-03-20)	May 22, 2019 (2019-05-22)
	2	11		April 3, 2020 (2020-04-03)	June 19, 2020 (2020-06-19)
	3	10		December 17, 2021 (2021-12-17)	February 19, 2022 (2022-02-19)

Season 1 (2019)

Main article: Swedish Boys (season 1)

Season 2 (2020)

Main article: Swedish Boys (season 2)

Season 3 (2021)

Main article: Swedish Boys (season 3)

Reception

Swedish Boys has received international critical acclaim, particularly for it's acting, writing, and historical setting...

Historical accuracy

Swedish Boys has been both praised and criticized for it's historical accuracy. Critics have praised the show for going out of it's way to properly represent the life in Duluth during the 1950s, with Adrian Cassie of the New Hamburg Journal Sentinel saying: "The show is painstakingly accurate when it comes to it's setting, showing the largely hard and difficult life of Duluth citizens during the interwar period." In both seasons, the show has portrayed real-life historical figures, most notably Rupert Gardner, the 5th Secretariat of the United Commonwealth, and Adolf Splitz, the leader of the National Derzhavist Superian Workers Party. The show's portrayal of Gardner would receive both praise and slight criticism from the Central Communications Commission, the media department of the United Commonwealth, praising the accurate representation of Gardner, though criticized some personal details added to Gardner for the show, including PTSD and previous alcoholism. The show would also receive both praise and criticism for it's portrayal of Adolf Splitz, with historians praising Splitz's appearance in the show, as his politics had an influence in Duluth at the time, though would criticize his portrayal as "hyper-aggressive", citing Splitz's reserved and quiet nature in real life.

See also

• List of television shows on SBC
• Television in Superior