Erik Leijonborg is a film and television director working in the UK and Sweden, best known for directing the opening block of The Last Kingdom: Series 3 (Netflix) and the first four episodes of the international miniseries Farang (Warner Bros), shot in Thailand.
He is currently working on King and Conqueror, a series for BBC and CBS starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and James Norton.
Erik’s most recent Swedish production is Ondskan, a drama series based on Jan Guillou’s modern classic, which premiered in the fall of 2023.
As one of Sweden’s most experienced and sought-after TV directors, Erik honed his craft by assisting some of the country’s greatest filmmakers, including Ingmar Bergman.
His first series, Bråttsvåg (which he created and directed for Jarowskij/Channel 5), is considered one of the earliest examples of the Scandi noir TV genre. His miniseries Tusenbröder (for SVT) won multiple awards and was renewed for two additional seasons. Since then, Erik has been in high demand—both for directing feature films and launching new TV series in Sweden.
Over the past two decades, Erik has developed and directed numerous acclaimed TV series, including Agent Hamilton, Thicker Than Water, Maria Wern, and Van Veeteren.
Erik has also worked extensively with feature films and projects that push the boundaries of new technology. His youth drama IRL (Eyeworks/SF) takes place both in the real world and in an online universe, while the children’s film Max & Josef (SVT/SF) was the first in Scandinavia to combine live-action with a fully animated character.
