Swedish Hockey Drama

Beartown, a five-episode Swedish drama about a struggling community whose collective hopes rest with their junior ice hockey team, debuts on HBO Max today, February 22.

The series will also premiere on HBO at 9 pm ET/PT. The remaining episodes will drop on both services Mondays through March 22.

Professional-athlete-turned coach Peter Andersson (Ulf Stenberg) relocates his family to Beartown to manage an elite squad of hockey players. When the team fails to live up to its billing, Peter turns his attention to the junior team, led by rising star Kevin Erdahl (Oliver Dufåker). This not only aggravates tensions with the locals but with Kevin’s father, Mats (Tobias Zilliacus), with whom Peter shares some bad blood. Ultimately, the boys get their shot at the national title, but a violent act threatens to destroy everything.

The cast includes Aliette Opheim and Miriam Ingrid.

Fredrik Backman, upon whose novel the show is based, is a writer and executive producer for the series.

Beartown is in Swedish with English subtitles.

HBO Max costs $14.99 a month, with a seven-day free trial. For more, visit HBOMax.com.

(Top image source: HBO)