FAQ

The town in Norway in which main character Frank Tagliano resides is Lillehammer, yet the show is titled "Lilyhammer". The misspelling alludes to the pilot episode, where Tagliano's dog, named Lily, is shot to death following a failed attempt on Tagliano's life. It also is a tongue in cheek reference to the way in which many English speakers, particularly Tagliano, pronounce the town's name. In Norwegian, Lillehammer is actually pronounced LEE-la-HAHM-er.

There's another inside joke here (this series is full of them). There was a woman who lived in a town north of Lillehammer whose name was "Lily Hammer". When the 1994 Olympics came around, there were newspaper articles about her where she was quoted as saying, "why are all these people coming to see me?"

Most likely because of copyright issues. David Chase, creator of "The Sopranos", did not create "Lilyhammer", nor did he have any creative involvement with the latter whatsoever. Creating a spinoff without his consent would probably have resulted in a mess of legal paperwork and licensing fees.

In addition, there are some differences between Tagliano and Dante. Among the biggest differences is that on "The Sopranos", Dante was known for his loyalty to Tony Soprano and his crew, and would have never testified against them. In fact, on notable episodes of "The Sopranos", Dante killed, or was present and participated in the killing of, major characters on the show who were both members of the family and cooperated with the FBI.