Fifth Season acquires rights to ‘The Man Who Died’

Antti Tuomainen & Jussi Vatanen

Fifth Season (fka Endeavor Content) has acquired international distribution rights to Finnish drama series The Man Who Died.

The six-part series, which was commissioned last year and launched on Elisa Viihde Viaplay in June, is produced by Finland’s ReelMedia and Germany’s ndF International Production.

Based on the book of the same name by Antti Tuomainen, and adapted by Brendan Foley and Markku Flink, it follows follows mushroom entrepreneur Jaakko Kaunismaa (Jussi Vatanen) who discovers he has been slowly poisoned and sets out to find his would-be murderer.

Jaakko is a man in his prime, with a thriving business and keen customers as far away as Japan – but his world shatters when a doctor reveals that his days are numbered. Before his impending death, Jaakko decides to uncover the murderer. During Jaakko’s hunt for the killer people have a habit of dying or vanishing around him – yet with the clock ticking he feels gloriously alive for the first time in years, as he faces the ultimate questions of love, life, betrayal, death – and mushrooms.

Rights for the book have already sold widely internationally, including to Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Norway, Poland, UK (World English), South Korea and US.