# War Sailor (2023)

> Two Norwegian merchant sailors struggle to survive a war they never signed up for, and the families who wait for them at home.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/140090

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 3
- Episode runtime: 60 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: drama, war
- Created by: Gunnar Vikene
- Network: Netflix
- Cast: Kristoffer Joner, Ine Marie Wilmann, Pål Sverre Hagen, Henrikke Lund Olsen, Téa Grønner Joner, Siv Torin Knudsen Petersen, Armand Hannestad, Daniel Berg
- TMDB rating: 7.2/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt26743607/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: accessible
- Violence: brutal
- Tone: harrowing, sombre, intimate, tense

## What critics say

Audiences rate this Norwegian WWII miniseries positively for its grounded depiction of merchant sailors caught in the war.

## Synopsis

War Sailor (Krigsseileren, 2023) is a Norwegian national-television war drama miniseries created by Gunnar Vikene for Netflix. Across three hour-long episodes it follows two sailors on a Norwegian merchant ship, Alfred (Kristoffer Joner) and Olav (Noah Nygård), along with Cecilia (Ine Marie Wilmann) and Magdeli (Henrikke Lund Olsen) on the home front, as they try to survive a conflict they were never asked to join. The engine of the story is simple and concrete: crews must keep sailing through dangerous waters while the shipboard routine is shattered by attack and the constant fear of the next strike, and the families left behind must endure their own anxious waiting. Drawn from true accounts of Norwegian seafarers and their relatives during and after World War II, the series is a compact, grounded piece that foregrounds endurance, moral fatigue and the lasting toll of trauma. Its tone is sober, harrowing and intimate rather than heroic. Set in wartime Norway and the surrounding seas, it will appeal to viewers who enjoy Band of Brothers, Das Boot and character-driven historical dramas told at a human scale.

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