Pasadena, Calif. — Pivot went all the way to the Arctic for its first scripted drama, Fortitude.
Series creator Simon Donald said that of all the communities looked at, there was only one place to set the murder-mystery premiering Jan. 29.
“We needed permafrost, to find a place where hidden things could emerge from the past,” Donald said Friday at the TCA Winter Press Tour. “(Fortitude) is a place that people run away to. It attracts independent, stubborn-minded people. We wanted to have everybody available and be under some kind of suspicion.”
The series was shot in a remote part of Iceland, and the cast and crew bonded in the isolated setting.
“It’s fair to say that a lot of the cast had not been to a remote place like. It had a familiar feel to Fortitude,” said Luke Treadaway. “Luckily we were dressed in environmentally appropriate clothing.”
Some of the clothing, however, was a little too environmentally appropriate. “I’ve actually never felt as warm on a shoot,” said Richard Dormer.
Other highlights from the panel included:
—Fun fact: Donald said that while there are 2,000 people in the community, there are 3,000 polar bears.
—Sam Miller said that, as bizarre as it sounds, there was no snow for a couple of weeks during filming, and they had to import snow from London. “That also made us aware of how the story is about how the climate is changing.”
