The Artist Whose Rural Dystopian Scenes Inspired an Amazon Series

Last week, Amazon Studios issued a series order for a new domestic-dystopia drama from Legion writer Nathaniel Halpern. The show, called Tales From the Loop, is based on Swedish artist Simon Stålenhag's award-winning artbook of the same name. Stålenhag's digital paintings, which combine bucolic visions of rural Sweden with sci-fi elements, evoke a haunting familiarity. I caught up with Stålenhag this week to understand his artistic process for Tales From the Loop and to find out what he was most excited to see translated onto the screen. This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.