Martin Zandvliet makes his long-form debut with Harvest, a DR Drama production that transplants succession-style family conflict to the rhythms of a working farm
The Danish public broadcaster DR Drama, known internationally for titles such as Borgen and The Killing, presented its newest series Harvest in the main competition of Canneseries. The show had its world premiere at the Grand Théâtre Lumière on April 24, an event that introduced audiences to a tight, character-led tale rooted in the soil of a family farm rather than the glass towers of corporate power. Created and directed by Oscar-nominated filmmaker Martin Zandvliet, the series signals his first extended venture into television and his first sustained focus on rural life.
Harvest centers on the Feldumgaard estate and the fractious reunion of three grown siblings when their father drops an unexpected inheritance decision. The story unspools around inheritance and the emotional fallout that follows—jealousy, shame and buried secrets—while also paying close attention to the daily labor and seasonal cycles that shape life on a farm. DR Sales’ director Pernille Munk Skysgaard summed up the tonal shorthand as a kind of “Succession with tractors and tradition”—a useful image, though the series aims for a quieter, more tactile realism than corporate melodrama usually offers.
At the center of the drama is patriarch Gorn, played by Lars Brygmann, whose announcement during his 65th birthday party upends expectations and identities. The three siblings—Astrid (Katrine Greis-Rosenthal), Erik (Elliott Crosset Hove) and Thomas (Simon Bennebjerg)—react in ways shaped by long histories and unspoken rivalries. Astrid, the youngest and seemingly least likely heir, is a city-based teacher with a rebellious streak; Erik is the eldest whose life has revolved around the farm; Thomas is perhaps the most capable in agricultural terms but reluctant to shoulder the responsibility. The ensemble also includes Charlotte Fich, Joachim Fjelstrup and Helene Reingaard Neumann, enriching the portrait of a community where decisions about land and legacy reverberate beyond the family home.
Zandvliet and his team committed to authenticity, consulting widely with both conventional and organic farmers during development. The goal was to portray the machinery, chores and seasonal constraints of farming as lived experience rather than stage props. Actors spent weeks learning to handle tractors, harvesters and livestock; the production relied heavily on real agricultural operations so that the cast would appear, convincingly, as people who earn their living from the land. This hands-on approach is central to the series’ credibility and its emotional stakes.
The director selected his leads with an eye to performance growth: rather than assigning fixed biographies, Zandvliet encouraged the cast to invest in the rural environment and discover their characters through practice. After a period of research and fieldwork, the actors collaborated with the writer-director to finalize their roles, a process that allowed them to internalize each sibling’s motivations. That improvisational groundwork fed into a script of substantial scope—Zandvliet worked from a comprehensive 500-page blueprint while leaving space for the actors’ discoveries to shape scenes.
Filming took place across 121 days, largely outdoors, which brought the production into close contact with weather and agricultural timetables. The crew had to plan around sowing and harvesting windows, avoid muddy fields and respect the choreography of heavy machinery. These limitations demanded flexibility and close coordination with local farmers; they also contributed to the series’ texture, as scenes were often captured in the narrow moments when light, weather and farm operations aligned.
Cinematographer Camilla Hjelm, a long-time collaborator of Zandvliet, shaped the series’ visual language with an emphasis on natural light and quietly composed frames. The photography highlights the changing seasons and the physicality of fieldwork, transforming everyday agricultural labor into a kind of visual poetry. Backed by DR Drama and produced by Rikke Tørholm Kofoed as part of the New8 public-broadcaster alliance, Harvest will be released to Danish audiences in October. Following its Canneseries premiere, the series is poised to find viewers who appreciate intimate, character-driven storytelling grounded in a specific national landscape.
Zandvliet has described the experience as richly rewarding—both for the collaborative process and for the opportunity to work outdoors across changing seasons. He has expressed interest in continuing the story with another season while also weighing various international projects in film and television. For now, Harvest stands as his notable leap into serial drama: a show that blends familial conflict with the rhythms of rural life and invites audiences to consider what is at stake when land and legacy collide.