If Netflix has done one thing right over the past few years, it’s been its efforts to introduce viewers to non-native media. The best example is (of course) Squid Game, a bloodthirsty South Korean production that begat a reality show of the same name – mercifully, without all the death. Then, there’s the German-language serial Dark and its recent successor 1899.
Doppelganger
Netflix also aired the Icelandic drama Katla on 17 June 2021. This bizarre show told the tale of the real-life town of Vík, a place that meets a slow (fictional) end beneath the ash of Katla, a subglacial volcano. Over eight episodes, Katla introduces us to the concept of changelings, creatures who can take on the form of other people.
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This leads us through a story of mistaken identity and the terror of being replaced by your own doppelganger. Gloomy ‘til the end, Katla reveals its heart through the characters’ interactions with their mirror images and the dead that have seemingly come back to life – including some family members.
Sadly, now, it’s all but canceled.
Dante’s Peak
Despite their bombastic nature, there’s a sad dearth of volcanic media out there, which made Katla almost unique in Netflix’s catalog. Plenty of documentary shows exist, of course, like Werner Herzog’s Into the Inferno (2016) and The Volcano: Rescue from Whakaari (2022), as well as a handful of fiery tales in other media.
In casino circles, the IGT-developed game Cash Eruption introduces players to a Fire Goddess on a Pacific Island via an ornery volcano. This 5×3 slot is – oddly enough – filled with fruit and forms one part of casino gaming’s fascination with hot things. Sizzling Moon and Let it Burn are listed on the PlayStar site, for instance.
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Apart from a 1997 movie duet of Volcano (Tommy Lee Jones) and Dante’s Peak (Pierce Brosnan, Linda Hamilton), there hasn’t been anything similar to Netflix’s Katla for a long time, which makes the silence surrounding a potential second season all the more worrying for fans. The consensus online seems to be that, simply, no information is available.
Well-worn Hits
Put another way, it’s unlikely that there’ll be a resumption of Katla’s story, despite the first season ending with the hint of a sequel. Writer, producer, and director Baltasar Kormákur is currently engaged with a show entitled King and Conqueror, while Netflix seems to be forming an identity based on well-worn hits rather than the more experimental shows.
Perhaps the best evidence of the latter is the cancellation of the surreal 1899 after the finale of Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese’s Dark. The Wired website announced the end of Netflix’s “weird era” back in January 2023, which doesn’t bode well for something like Katla, a show that wore its weirdness on its sleeve.
Observers have already noted the tone shift in streaming media towards a cable-like experience, the kind of thing that’s sustained by re-runs of Friends and The Simpsons. Can there be a place in this environment for something a little strange?