The Kingdom (miniseries)

Riget (English title: The Kingdom) is a Danish absurdist supernatural horror miniseries trilogy created by Lars von Trier and Tómas Gislason.

The series is notable for its wry humor, its muted sepia colour scheme, and the appearance of a chorus of dishwashers with Down syndrome, who discuss in intimate detail the strange occurrences in the hospital.

The show begins with the admission of a spiritualist patient, Sigrid Drusse (Kirsten Rolffes), who hears the sound of a girl crying in the elevator shaft.

Meanwhile, neurosurgeon Stig Helmer (Ernst-Hugo Järegård), a recent appointee from Sweden to the neurosurgery department, tries to cover up his responsibility for a botched operation which left a young girl in a persistent vegetative state.

[2] The same year, von Trier began showing symptoms of Parkinson's disease during an interview with Christian Lund of Louisiana Channel;[8] afterwards, he continued to work while taking medication.

[9] Returning cast members Ghita Nørby, Søren Pilmark, Peter Mygind, Birgitte Raaberg, Laura Christensen and Udo Kier are joined by newcomers Bodil Jørgensen, Nicolas Bro, Lars Mikkelsen, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Mikael Persbrandt, Tuva Novotny, Ida Engvoll, Asta Kamma August, David Dencik and Alexander Skarsgard.

The site's critical consensus reads, "An acquired taste for newcomers and comfort weirdness for Lars von Trier's devotees, The Kingdom: Exodus is a cheeky delicacy infused with cosmic horror that reaches biblically insane proportions.

[21] Exodus was well received by critics following its premiere at the Venice in September 2022, with Variety calling it "over-the-top" and "fun",[7] and the Italian Post praised the series, saying it "amuses and disturbs", and comparing it positively to Twin Peaks.

[22] The Upcoming gave the series 3/5, praising its "dark humour" and noting that it feels like a "tribute to Lars von Trier's career, a revisiting of his early work... filled with the wobbly handheld shots that distinguished the Dogme 95 movement".

[23] Giving it 3/5 stars, The Guardian called the series "a nightmarish revue, peppered with familiar faces in brief walk-on roles", and said that it is "fun to a point and richly textured to a fault, with a plot that’s entirely driven by what has gone before".

In a departure from the plot of Riget, the American series introduces a new protagonist, a comatose patient, Peter Rickman, inspired by King's own experience of being hit by a minivan,[15] and a talking giant anteater, the spirit guide Anubis/Antubis.

Ernst-Hugo Järegård as Stig Helmer, a Dane-hating Swedish doctor
German actor Udo Kier (pictured in 2018) appears in a dual role as the antagonist Åge Krüger, and his infant son Little Brother