Sky orders a second series of Fortitude for 2016

Sky has given a frosty thumbs up to a second series of Arctic-based chiller Fortitude. 

A new ten episode run of the succesful crime-horror drama will air in 2016, following Sky’s decision to recommission the show. 

Fortitude was Sky’s first original program to air on all of its European channels simultaneously, and it went on to notch up an average of over one and a half million viewers an episode, making it the most successful property Sky has commissioned via its Sky Vision branch to date.

Set in the Arctic Circle, the program charts a series of unsettling events gripping the formerly safe fictional town of Fortitude.

With a strong cast, including Stanley Tucci (The Lovely Bones, The Hunger Games), Sofie Gråbøl (The Killing), Christopher Ecclestone (Doctor Who) Michael Gambon (Harry Potter, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou) and Richard Dormer (Game of Thrones) the thriller has been a runaway success, with an estimated 50 per cent of Sky Atlantic’s new subscribers signing on the dotted line just to watch it. 

The first series will come to the end of its 11 episode run tonight at 9pm on Sky Atlantic. For this reason, to avoid spoilers, none of the cast for season two has yet been announced. That said, the accompanying images shows Gråbøl and Dormer, suggesting that their characters will return. 

The show’s creator and leading writer, Simon Donald, was pleased to be given a chance to drive his story on to higher heights and lower lows. “It’s a privilege to return to Fortitude. It’s a place where the real and the feared live side by side, where old dark secrets thaw out into the chill light of the arctic day. I’d never been anywhere like Fortitude before and I can’t wait to go back.” 

Sky Atlantic’s channel director and former BBC Three head Zai Bennett, was similarly effusive. “Simon Donald created a unique and unsettling story which, week after week, has captivated our customers.  I am absolutely delighted that we will be bringing Fortitude back next year with a story that promises to engage, challenge and enthral us all over again.“