Following three exceptional series showcasing the detective career of renowned sleuth Kurt Wallander, Netflix has announced that it will be releasing a prequel show to offer fans an insight into the character’s early cases.
As a lifelong fan of Henning Mankell, and especially of his dour, Morse-esq police inspector, I am incredibly excited to hear that there will be a prequel series. The series will star Swedish actor Adam Pålsson in the role of Wallander, alongside Argo’s Richard Dillane as Superintendent Hemberg and Ripper Street’s Leanne Best as Frida Rask.
Other cast members have been announced, including Ellise Chappell, who starred in Poldark and feature film Yesterday, will play Mona, Wallander’s wife. Yasen Atour, who stars in Small City and Robin Hood plays Reza, Sara Seyed (His Only Son) plays Jasmine, Reza’s wife and Charles Mnene, who has starred in The Widow and Misfits, plays Bash.
Additionally, Jacob Collins-Levy, who plays King Henry VII in Starz’ The White Princess, plays Karl-Axel Munck, Alan Emrys, who features in Johnny English 3, plays Gustav Munck and Kiza Deen from Silent Witness plays Mariam.
Titled Young Wallander, the series is directed by Ole Endresen and Jens Jonsson and produced by Berna Levin. It will give watchers a new means to enjoy these amazing stories and will hopefully be faithfully based on the tales from the short story series The Pyramid, which is one of my favourite of Mankell’s books.
Set to be shown in 2020, this six-part series, which has just started filming, tells the story of detective Kurt Wallander’s first case and is produced by Banijay-backed Yellow Bird UK. The story, as in The Pyramid, will focus on the formative personal and professional torments faced by Wallander as a recently graduated police officer in his early twenties.
So it’s exciting times for fans of quality Scandinavian crime fiction and Henning Mankell alike as a new side to the famed world-weary detective is brought to life. Whilst it’s always hard to see a new version of a beloved character, in this case one who was never better portrayed than when done by Krister Henriksson, I think this will be a great chance for fans to see on screen for the first time this amazing detective in his younger days. I only hope the series does Mankell’s amazing characterisation and raw, emotive storytelling justice.
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