The previous decade has seen a proliferation of Nordic noir sequence on streaming platforms, with Swedish true crime restricted sequence The Breakthrough solely the most recent to explode worldwide. This four-episode story a couple of pair of cold-case murders being solved through an ingenious reapplication of DNA proof hit the highest 10 of Netflix’s international streaming charts in January, with Peter Eggers’ efficiency as its detective protagonist engrossing tens of millions of viewers. The Breakthrough’s plot relies on a real-life double homicide dedicated in Linköping, Sweden, in 2004, that turned one of many greatest crime circumstances within the nation’s historical past.
Now that the dramatization of this true story has captivated worldwide streaming audiences, newcomers to Nordic noir reveals could also be questioning what else is on the market they’ll watch. They’re in luck, as Netflix particularly has an entire catalogue of crime dramas much like The Breakthrough and its forged of detectives and homicide suspects, at present obtainable for streaming. It’s not simply Netflix, although, as Apple TV+ has its personal fair proportion of Nordic noir sequence, together with the granddaddy of all of them, Henning Mankell’s Wallander.
1
Wallander (Swedish Model)
2005-2013
Wallander was the present that turned the remainder of the world onto Scandinavian crime dramas, with its legendary titular character changing into one of many TV’s most iconic detectives. The Swedish sequence model of Wallander, which started in 2005 with Krister Henriksson within the title position, isn’t the unique display screen iteration of Henning Mankell’s detective novels, however it’s arguably one of the best. Kenneth Branagh’s English-language Wallander may be extra well-known and celebrated, together with its Netflix spinoff sequence Younger Wallander, however it’s Henriksson’s police inspector who feels closest to the character Mankell created.
To begin from the start with Nordic noir, Wallander must be on the high of the record.
Every one of many murders that Kurt Wallander investigates all through the present is a grisly act that uncovers a special darkish facet to humanity, within the method of a succession of unrelated basic noir films that share the identical overarching themes. Each homicide sufferer within the present looks like an unlikely goal on the face of it, till Kurt begins digging deeper. To begin from the start with Nordic noir, Wallander must be on the high of the record.
2
The Killing
2007-2012
The Killing
- Launch Date
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2007 – 2011
- Community
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DR1
- Administrators
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Kristoffer Nyholm, Hans Fabian Wullenweber, Charlotte Sieling, Henrik Ruben Genz, Birger Larsen, Kathrine Windfeld, Natasha Arthy, Mikkel Serup, Morten Arnfred
- Writers
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Per Daumiller, Søren Sveistrup, Torleif Hoppe
In 2007, Danish TV created its personal piece of Nordic noir historical past by releasing police-procedural drama The Killing to the world. The present shortly turned one of the crucial watched and fashionable sequence in Europe, together with in the UK, which is notoriously proof against foreign-language productions. A four-season English adaptation of The Killing quickly adopted, which merely doesn’t arise towards the unique model.
The primary three seasons of The Killing‘s American model had been broadcast on AMC between 2011 and 2013, whereas the final one was made for Netflix and launched on the platform in 2014.
Extra into the nuts and bolts of homicide investigations than Wallander, The Killing impressed many points of The Breakthrough. Just like the central hero of Netflix’s new true crime drama, The Killing’s protagonist, Detective Inspector Sarah Lund, takes the course of a season to unravel a single homicide, monitoring down numerous leads earlier than ultimately cracking the case. Every time it’s definitely worth the wait, although, as a binge via every of The Killing’s three seasons on Apple TV+ will verify.
3
Deadwind
2018-2022
The Finnish crime drama Deadwind was Netflix’s first main foray into Nordic noir, and the sequence didn’t disappoint. Its feminine protagonists, police detectives Sofia Karppi and Sakari Nurmi, mix completely to make fixing every of the present’s ugly killings an incisive operation. On the similar time, we see Sofia and Sakari grappling with quite a few perilous risks and quite a few private obstacles of their hunt for every killer.
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Deadwind isn’t for the faint-hearted, however it’s addictive viewing for anybody in the hunt for one of the best cop reveals on streaming platforms proper now. Its season-long plots aren’t a lot homicide mysteries, as elongated homicide chases, punctuated with gripping motion sequences and marked by an immersive degree of technical element.
4
The Valhalla Murders
2019-2020
The Valhalla Murders – Season 1
- Launch Date
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December 26, 2019
- Community
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RÚV
- Episodes
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8
Like The Breakthrough, The Valhalla Murders is loosely based mostly on a real story. It delves into the sordid occasions at a state-run kids’s house in a distant a part of Iceland, which ends up in the homicide of three lecturers who labored there. Its protagonist, Reykjavík police detective Kata Gunnarsdóttir, is tasked with uncovering the reality, regardless of many doable suspects and witnesses having already died or been locked away.
The present may be very a lot impressed by one of many darkest secrets and techniques within the historical past of Iceland’s state care establishments.
This typically neglected however undeniably bingeworthy Netflix crime drama isn’t nearly homicide. It’s a couple of sinister internet of crimes surrounding the fictional Valhalla kids’s house. Though the characters and setting are fictional, nonetheless, the present may be very a lot impressed by one of many darkest secrets and techniques within the historical past of Iceland’s state care establishments.
5
The Unlikely Assassin
2021
The Unlikely Assassin is maybe probably the most electrifying true crime drama in Swedish historical past, on condition that it brilliantly builds a case for the actual murderer of Sweden’s Prime Minister Olof Palme, who was murdered in Stockholm in 1986. The present’s protagonist isn’t a police detective, however a dramatized model of the person now thought-about the prime suspect in Palme’s assassination.
Olof Palme was assassinated on February 28, 1986. Christer Pettersson was initially convicted of homicide after Palme’s spouse picked him out of a police lineup, however he was later acquitted after an attraction. There may be now consensus across the id of Palme’s precise killer, partly because of Thomas Petterson’s non-fiction ebook concerning the assassination.
Thomas Pettersson, the author of the true crime ebook that originated the present’s idea of how Palme was assassinated, and by whom, helped adapt his personal ebook for Netflix. The result’s an engrossing drama that gives insights into the characters and motives behind one of the crucial horrifying moments in Swedish politics.
6
Trapped
2021-
Trapped, or Ófærð within the authentic Icelandic, is definitely the umbrella identify for 3 totally different however interconnected crime sequence, the third of which is now on Netflix beneath the English title Entrapped. Every sequence is a gritty police drama that follows the efforts of Detective Andri Ólafsson to unravel a special homicide.
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In Entrapped, Ólafsson has resettled within the Icelandic capital Reykjavík, having moved from the extra distant setting of Siglufjörður on the opposite facet of the island, within the second sequence. Nonetheless, in all three circumstances, the Icelandic countryside offers a spectacular, forbidding and sometimes haunting backdrop to the detective’s seek for the assassin in his case.
7
Equinox
2020
The miniseries Equinox strikes past the gritty realism of Nordic noir’s seminal works, incorporating components of the surreal and supernatural. Like The Breakthrough, its protagonist, Astrid, grapples with the case of somebody who apparently died beneath mysterious circumstances a few years earlier than, that isn’t what it appears. Nevertheless, the six-episode thriller additionally shares issues in widespread with David Lynch’s homicide thriller basic Twin Peaks, in addition to the German sci-fi sequence Darkish.
For these on the lookout for a Nordic noir present that’s extra cerebral than procedural, this hidden Netflix gem is the way in which to go.
Viewers ought to put together to get significantly creeped out by Equinox, because the sequence progressively unfurls the mind-boggling fact behind the disappearance of Astrid’s sister. For these on the lookout for a Nordic noir present that’s extra cerebral than procedural, this hidden Netflix gem is the way in which to go.
8
The Chestnut Man
2021-
The Chestnut Man
- Launch Date
-
September 29, 2021
The Chestnut Man is maybe probably the most celebrated of all Scandinavian crime dramas, and fortuitously it’s totally accessible on Netflix. Its horrifying conceit takes it outdoors the essential scope of a noir detective story, and into one thing even darker. The person within the title is definitely a motif via which grisly homicide clues are found by these investigating the murders driving its plot.
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Though the sequence was initially supposed as a restricted six-episode thriller, The Chestnut Man has now been renewed for a second season. It stays to be seen how its title will likely be included into a brand new homicide thriller storyline, however those that haven’t seen the primary season should watch it to seek out out why.
9
A Almost Regular Household
2023
A Almost Regular Household
- Launch Date
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2023 – 2022
- Administrators
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Per Hanefjord
- Writers
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Hans Jörnlind, Anna Platt, Mattias Edvardsson
Primarily based on a novel by M.T. Edvardsson, this Swedish murder-themed miniseries is as creepy as crime dramas come. The present jumps backwards and forwards in time throughout, serving to to construct suspense and sow confusion across the homicide of entrepreneur Chris Olsen, on which its story focuses.
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The characters that make up A Almost Regular Household are like a modern-day recreation of Clue, none of whom ought to have something to do with a homicide, in idea. The sequence makes use of its homicidal conceit as a method of exploring a darker which means inside what household means to these in it.
10
The Åre Murders
2025
The Åre Murders
- Launch Date
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February 6, 2025
- Community
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Netflix
- Administrators
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Alain Darborg
- Writers
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Karin Gidfors
The Åre Murders is the opposite main Nordic noir streaming success story on Netflix thus far in 2025, alongside The Breakthrough. Set in a distant, snow-covered space of Northern Sweden best-known for its ski resorts, the crime drama’s plot feels eerily like a real crime adaptation of one thing which may even have occurred, regardless of being based mostly on works of fiction by novelist Viveca Sten.
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Throughout its 5 episodes, The Åre Murders covers all of the bases a Scandinavian crime drama ought to, with its wild, hazardous backdrop, its grim, unflinching portrayal of humanity’s darkish facet, and a police outcast pressured by her ethical scruples and obsessive drive to uncover the reality. Followers of The Breakthrough and any of its forerunners listed above ought to discover this miniseries a riveting watch, that demonstrates simply how far Nordic noir has come up to now 20 years.
