Why was Pommelien Thijs quietly spending summer evenings in the Flemish Ardennes?

Altijd welkom returns Thijs to the kind of ensemble fiction that helped make her widely recognisable beyond pop music. She first built a young audience through Ketnet’s musical drama #LikeMe and later played Louise in Knokke Off. VRT NWS reported that she researched bipolar disorder before the second season of Knokke Off because she did not want to approach Louise’s condition casually. That earlier role, and the series’ subsequent circulation through Netflix under the title High Tides, introduced her acting to audiences well beyond Dutch-speaking Belgium.

The new production appears quieter and more intimate. Rather than the conspicuous wealth and volatile relationships of Knokke Off, its announced subject is the uneven rhythm of mourning: one person tries to keep a group together while others may need distance. The comic element is important because VRT is presenting Altijd welkom as tragicomedy, not as a clinical guide to bereavement. Its value will ultimately depend on whether the writing allows humour to emerge from recognisable human behaviour without trivialising loss.

The series is produced by Dingie, the company also associated with Knokke Off, and directed by Joren Slaets and Renate Raman. Emiel Van Wouwe and Slaets wrote the screenplay. Regional reports say the production received support from the Vlaams Audiovisueel Fonds, Belgium’s federal tax-shelter mechanism, Toerisme Oost-Vlaanderen and Toerisme Vlaamse Ardennen. These partnerships also help explain the unusually prominent use of the landscape rather than a largely anonymous studio setting.

The rolling countryside and village centres around Oosterzele, Maarkedal, Kluisbergen and Oudenaarde give the story a distinctly East Flemish setting. A garden in Oosterzele was converted into a set for scenes involving the bereaved family and Arne’s friends, according to Het Nieuwsblad. Other filming took place around Maarkedal, while accommodation near the Koppenberg kept part of the company close to the locations.

That can generate modest visibility for the region, particularly among viewers who know the Flemish Ardennes mainly from cycling races. It should not, however, turn the drama into a tourism advertisement. The locations serve the emotional story first; any benefit for local hospitality, walking routes or destination marketing is secondary.

For newcomers to Belgium, the geography also illustrates a useful linguistic detail. Oosterzele, Maarkedal, Kluisbergen and Oudenaarde are Dutch-speaking gemeenten in the province of East Flanders. In French-language Belgian usage, a municipality is usually called a commune; the institutions and local signage in these towns operate primarily in Dutch. The series itself is expected to be Dutch-language.

VRT MAX is the Flemish public broadcaster’s streaming service and requires a free VRT profile for its full catalogue. VRT’s official guidance says users can enable captions by selecting the CC symbol in the website, mobile application or smart-TV application. The broadcaster provides Dutch subtitles for programmes across VRT 1, VRT Canvas, Ketnet and VRT MAX, subject to limited exceptions. VRT has not announced English or French subtitles for Altijd welkom, so international viewers should not assume that translations will be available.

Residents temporarily travelling elsewhere in the European Union can generally retain access after verifying their Belgian residence through their VRT profile. VRT says verification may involve a Belgian mobile number or Mijn Burgerprofiel, the Flemish government’s digital citizen portal. Rights restrictions can still apply to individual titles, although an in-house Flemish production is more likely than an acquired programme to remain available. People living in Wallonia can also use VRT MAX; residence in a Dutch-speaking gemeente is not required.

There is no special form, municipal registration or paid subscription specifically for this series. Create a VRT profile, check that the application works on the intended device and activate CC once the episodes appear. For language learners, Dutch captions can make regional accents and colloquial expressions easier to follow, but they should be understood as accessibility subtitles rather than a literal transcript or translation.

VRT’s autumn announcement establishes the cast, subject and intended platforms while leaving the episode count, full character descriptions, release pattern and precise starting date undisclosed. The next meaningful update should be a trailer or programme page confirming those details. Until then, the solved ‘mystery rond Pommelien Thijs’ is simply that her quiet evenings in the Flemish Ardennes followed days spent filming a new chapter in her acting career.