The eight-part series produced by Synnøve Hørsdal for NRK is coproduced by Belgium’s Lunanime Group, in association with DR, SVT, RÚV, Yle as part of Nordic 12, with support from the Norwegian Film Institute among others. The local production company in Lithuania is Artbox, working with Maipo Film for the second time. In 2019 Maipo Film shot the comedy Diana’s Wedding / Dianos vestuvės directed by Charlotte Blom.
Due to a more complex technical shoot, the season 2 has a budget of around 10.7m EUR / 120 million NOK. State of Happiness has received the qualifying certificate from the Lithuanian Film Centre and can benefit from the Lithuanian tax incentive scheme,
Due to the pandemic, Artbox works with all the necessary Covid-19 safety requirements to keep the crew and cast from Norway safe.
„I‘m happy that the safety measures against Covid-19 are respected by the crew and cast during the film production. Everybody understands the new reality, takes the situation very 
seriously, and there are neither objections nor discussions whether to wear a mask properly, or to do daily Covid-19 tests, or to follow the other requirements needed to protect others. Safety first," Lithuanian producer Violeta Drazdauskė told FNE.
The series is written by Mette M. Bølstad, from a concept by Siw Rajendram Eliassen, itself based on an idea by Synnøve Hørsdal.
Director Mikkel B. Sandemose handles most of the action scenes, VFX and the stunt-based shoot, working alongside concept director Petter Næss and episodic director Pål Jackman.
According to the Norwegian Film Institute (NFI), “The new season picks up the story of Norway’s oil industry in 1977 - five years after the national oil company Statoil was founded - and ends in 1980. Season 2 features in particular two major accidents: on 22 April 1977, when an uncontrolled blowout occurred on the Bravo platform in the Norwegian Ekofisk field, and on 27 March 1980, when the Alexander L. Kielland platform capsised in the North Sea, killing 123 people.
Reprising their roles as the young protagonists whose lives are impacted by the oil boom are Anne Regine Ellingsæter as Anna Hellevik, Bart Edwards as Jonathan Kay, Malene Wadel as Toril Torstensen, while newcomer Paal Herman Ims (Oslo Zoo) is the new face for Christian Nyman. Also new is the rising Swedish acting talent Sara Shirpey, who plays an Iranian working in the oil industry.
The original season was both a critical and commercial success for Maipo Film, watched by almost 900,000 viewers on NRK1 and NRKTV, and it was sold by DR Sales to the BBC.
The television broadcast at NRK is planned for early 2022.
