Hæst
"HÆST" is a darkly funny and sharp Icelandic TV series following four very different teachers, insipid in their own way - Njáll, Hólmar, Bonní, and Ragna - as they each stumble through a desperate and mildly absurd attempt to solve their personal problems with a "heist". A sort of Fargo meets Oceans Eleven ...in a woolen sweater. "HÆST" experiments with classic heist movie tropes, exploring how the average citizens that watch these films can convince themselves that they are able to pull them off. Njáll, a middle-aged and stressed-out sociology teacher and family man, is constantly in financial trouble and barely managing to hold his life together through a series of increasingly misguided money-making schemes. His wife, Begga, has suffered a severe burnout and is trying to reinvent herself as a "burnout influencer," putting enormous strain on their home life - not least because the chances of her actually earning any income are slim to none. Determined to save his family, Njáll grows ever more desperate and willing to take drastic measures. At the high school where he works, Njáll meets Hólmar, a passionate history teacher with strong opinions about society and his students. Hólmar distrusts modern consumer culture and struggles to relate to the younger generation. When Njáll is assigned to co-supervise a student group with Hólmar, he gets a glimpse into the student council's suspiciously healthy finances - funds that seem to end up in the pocket of its president, Patti, a spoiled, infuriatingly nice influencer and olympian whom everyone adores. Teetering on the edge of despair, Njáll comes up with a plan: to rob the student council's prom dance ticket sales in order to fix his family's finances and fund his wife's wellness retreat. He convinces his colleague Hólmar to join him, arguing that it's a matter of justice - that the school's money would be better spent helping those who actually need it, like themselves. Complicating things further are Bonní, a disgraced former football prodigy turned gym teacher with a dark past, Ragna, the ambitious assistant principal stuck under the thumb of the incompetent chauvinistic headmaster Lúkas, who has just returned to the school after winning an unlawful-termination lawsuit and Lena, Hólmars daughter, a star student and Patti's main rival in the student-council elections, who is becoming increasingly independent from her single father. Though they see their plans form in the glitzy glamour of an Oceans Eleven-like scheme, the gang manages to botch nearly every step, leading to a chain of evermore chaotic events. Their interactions overflow with sarcasm, unlikely friendship, and growing empathy as they stumble their way through this ill-fated criminal escapade. "HÆST" paints a witty and heartfelt portrait of ordinary people, in both their drab hamster wheel spinning lives and their glitzy glamorous heist imaginations where everything goes according to the plan. The series is a satirical yet deeply human commentary on modern society - where hardship, hope, and clumsy solutions collide in a story that is both absurd and unexpectedly moving.
- Released
- 2026
Details
Release year: 2026
Storyline
"HÆST" is a darkly funny and sharp Icelandic TV series following four very different teachers, insipid in their own way - Njáll, Hólmar, Bonní, and Ragna - as they each stumble through a desperate and mildly absurd attempt to solve their personal problems with a "heist". A sort of Fargo meets Oceans Eleven ...in a woolen sweater. "HÆST" experiments with classic heist movie tropes, exploring how the average citizens that watch these films can convince themselves that they are able to pull them off. Njáll, a middle-aged and stressed-out sociology teacher and family man, is constantly in financial trouble and barely managing to hold his life together through a series of increasingly misguided money-making schemes. His wife, Begga, has suffered a severe burnout and is trying to reinvent herself as a "burnout influencer," putting enormous strain on their home life - not least because the chances of her actually earning any income are slim to none. Determined to save his family, Njáll grows ever more desperate and willing to take drastic measures. At the high school where he works, Njáll meets Hólmar, a passionate history teacher with strong opinions about society and his students. Hólmar distrusts modern consumer culture and struggles to relate to the younger generation. When Njáll is assigned to co-supervise a student group with Hólmar, he gets a glimpse into the student council's suspiciously healthy finances - funds that seem to end up in the pocket of its president, Patti, a spoiled, infuriatingly nice influencer and olympian whom everyone adores. Teetering on the edge of despair, Njáll comes up with a plan: to rob the student council's prom dance ticket sales in order to fix his family's finances and fund his wife's wellness retreat. He convinces his colleague Hólmar to join him, arguing that it's a matter of justice - that the school's money would be better spent helping those who actually need it, like themselves. Complicating things further are Bonní, a disgraced former football prodigy turned gym teacher with a dark past, Ragna, the ambitious assistant principal stuck under the thumb of the incompetent chauvinistic headmaster Lúkas, who has just returned to the school after winning an unlawful-termination lawsuit and Lena, Hólmars daughter, a star student and Patti's main rival in the student-council elections, who is becoming increasingly independent from her single father. Though they see their plans form in the glitzy glamour of an Oceans Eleven-like scheme, the gang manages to botch nearly every step, leading to a chain of evermore chaotic events. Their interactions overflow with sarcasm, unlikely friendship, and growing empathy as they stumble their way through this ill-fated criminal escapade. "HÆST" paints a witty and heartfelt portrait of ordinary people, in both their drab hamster wheel spinning lives and their glitzy glamorous heist imaginations where everything goes according to the plan. The series is a satirical yet deeply human commentary on modern society - where hardship, hope, and clumsy solutions collide in a story that is both absurd and unexpectedly moving.
Top credits
- Hannes Óli Ágústsson — Hannes
- Friðgeir Einarsson — Friðgeir
- Lára Jóhanna Jónsdóttir — Ragna
- Ásthildur Úa Sigurðardóttir — Bonní