| Department Q | |
| Director: | (1–2) Hans Petter Moland (3) Christoffer Boe (4) Martin Zandvliet (5) Ole Christian Madsen (6) |
| Producer: | Peter Aalbæk Jensen (1–4) Louise Vesth (1–4) (5–10) |
| Screenplay: | Nikolaj Arcel (1–4) Rasmus Heisterberg (2) (4) (4) Anders August (5) Thomas Porsager (5) Jakob Weis (6) |
| Starring: | Nikolaj Lie Kaas (1–4) Ulrich Thomsen (5–10) Fares Fares (1–4) (5) (6-10) Johanne Louise Schmidt (2–4) (5-10) |
| Cinematography: | Eric Kress (1–2) John Andreas Andersen (3) Jacob Møller (4) Aske Foss (5) (6) |
| Studio: | Zentropa (1–4) Nordisk Film (5–10) |
| Distributor: | Nordisk Film |
| Released: | 2013–2024 |
| Country: | Denmark |
| Language: | Danish English Arabic Swedish Norwegian French Spanish German Romani Czech |
| Budget: | €35,000,000 |
| Gross: | DKK 287,210,000 |
Department Q (Danish: '''Afdeling Q''') is a series of ten Danish Nordic noir crime novels by author Jussi Adler-Olsen[1] which have been adapted in an ongoing series of highly successful Danish films and a forthcoming English language TV adaptation for Netflix which changes the setting from Denmark to Scotland.
Originally written in Danish, the novels have been translated into numerous languages, including English, Bulgarian, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovakian, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish and Vietnamese.[2]
Despite using the same translations, the Penguin Group titled the first five novels differently in the UK and the USA. Their editions use the same English titles as the film adaptations.
| Novel | Original title | Year | Film adaptation | Year | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kvinden i buret | 2007 2011 (USA & UK) | The Keeper of Lost Causes | 2013 | ||
| Fasandræberne | 2008 2012 (USA & UK) | The Absent One | 2014 | ||
| Flaskepost fra P | 2009 2013 (USA & UK) | A Conspiracy of Faith | 2016 | ||
| Journal 64 | 2010 2013 (USA) 2014 (UK) | 2018 | |||
| Marco Effekten | 2012 2014 (USA & UK) | [3] | 2021 | ||
| Den Grænseløse | 2014 2015 (USA & UK) | [4] | 2024 | ||
| Selfies | 2016 2017 (USA & UK) | align=center bgcolor=lightgrey colspan=2 | |||
| Offer 2117 | 2019 2020 (USA & UK) | align=center bgcolor=lightgrey colspan=2 | |||
| Natrium Chlorid | 2021 2022 (USA & UK) | align=center bgcolor=lightgrey colspan=2 | |||
| Locked In | Syv m2 med Lås | 2021 2022 (USA & UK) | align=center bgcolor=lightgrey colspan=2 |
The first four films were produced by Peter Aalbæk Jensen and Louise Vesth through Zentropa, however despite their commercial and critical success, author Jussi Adler-Olsen was unhappy with the results and the casting, feeling that the films and characters departed from his novels too much and that his suggestions were being ignored, leading to Nordisk Film (who had already distributed the prior films in Denmark) and producer taking over for the remainder of the series, with all the recurring roles recast.[7]
In April 2023, it was announced that an English-language adaptation of the successful Danish crime series of books would be adapted for the streaming service Netflix by filmmaker Scott Frank.[8] Frank first acquired the US television rights for the novels in 2014 and initially planned to set the series in Boston, Massachusetts instead of Denmark. The eight-part series is being produced by Left Bank Pictures and Sony Pictures Television with the setting finally being Scotland and filming taking place in Edinburgh.[9] Frank is showrunner and is directing the first two episodes. He also co-wrote the series alongside Chandni Lakhani, Stephen Greenhorn and Colette Kane.[10]
Filming began in Edinburgh in February 2024, with Matthew Goode in the lead role of Carl Morck, as Akram Salim (renamed from Hafez el-Assad), Leah Byrne as Rose, Chloe Pirrie as Merrit Lingard (renamed from Merete Lynggaard) and Kelly Macdonald as Dr. Rachel Irving.[11] Later that month, Mark Bonnar, Jamie Sives, Shirley Henderson and Kate Dickie were also confirmed to be cast.[12]
| Character | (2021) | (2024) | The Scarred Woman (2026) | Victim 2117 (2028) | The Shadow Murders (2030) | Locked In (2032) | English language Netflix series (2025) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carl Mørck | Nikolaj Lie Kaas | Ulrich Thomsen | Matthew Goode | ||||||||
| Hafez el-Assad | Fares Fares | ||||||||||
| Rose Knudsen | Johanne Louise Schmidt | Leah Byrne | |||||||||
| Gordon | TBA | ||||||||||
| Marcus Jacobsen | Søren Pilmark | TBA | |||||||||
| Hardy Henningsen | Troels Lyby | Thomas W. Gabrielsson | TBA | ||||||||
| Mona | TBA | ||||||||||
| Merete Lynggaard | Sonja Richter | Chloe Pirrie | |||||||||
was unable to return as Assad after due to having recently become a father and having other scheduling conflicts with the filming of , which started on 5 September 2022, half a year earlier than planned.[13]
| Film | The Keeper of Lost Causes (2013) | The Absent One (2014) | A Conspiracy of Faith (2016) | (2018) | (2021) | (2024) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Director | Hans Petter Moland | Christoffer Boe | Martin Zandvliet | Ole Christian Madsen | |||
| Producer(s) | Peter Aalbæk Jensen Louise Vesth | Malene Blenkov | |||||
| Screenwriter(s) | Nikolaj Arcel | Nikolaj Arcel Rasmus Heisterberg | Nikolaj Arcel | Nikolaj Arcel | Anders August Thomas Porsager | Jakob Weis | |
| Composer(s) | Patrik Andrén Uno Helmersson Johan Söderqvist | Mikkel Maltha Anthony Lledo | Sune Martin | Lasse Ziegler | |||
| Cinematographer | Eric Kress | John Andreas Andersen | Jacob Møller | Aske Foss | |||
| Editor(s) | Morten Egholm Martin Schade | Nicolaj Monberg | My Thordal | Per K. Kirkegaard Per Sandholt | Frederik Strunk Nicolaj Monberg | ||
| Production company | Zentropa | Nordisk Film | |||||
| Distribution | Nordisk Film | ||||||
| Runtime | 96 minutes | 119 minutes | 112 minutes | 119 minutes | 125 minutes | 126 minutes | |
| Release date | October 3, 2013 | October 2, 2014 | March 3, 2016 | October 4, 2018 | May 27, 2021 | February 1, 2024 | |
| Film | Release date | Box office gross (Denmark) | Attendance (Denmark) | Box office ranking (Danish films) | Budget | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Keeper of Lost Causes | October 3, 2013 | DKK 59,010,000 | 721,256[14] |
| €5,000,000[15] | |
| The Absent One | October 2, 2014 | DKK 68,100,000 | 764,002[16] |
| €5,200,000[17] | |
| A Conspiracy of Faith | March 3, 2016 | DKK 64,300,000 | 704,971[18] |
| €5,300,000[19] | |
| October 4, 2018 | DKK 72,500,000 | 765,111[20] |
| €5,200,000[21] | ||
| May 27, 2021 | DKK 23,300,000[22] | 225,243[23] | N/A | €7,400,000[24] | ||
| February 1, 2024 | TBA | 301,800[25] | TBA | €6,900,000[26] | ||
| Total | DKK 287,210,000 | 3,482,383 | €35,000,000 | |||
| Average | DKK 57,442,000 | 580,397 | €5,830,000 | |||
| Film | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic | Kino.dk | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Keeper of Lost Causes | 71% (28 reviews)[30] | 62 (8 reviews)[31] | 4.2/6 (7 reviews)[32] | |
| The Absent One | 92% (12 reviews)[33] | 61 (6 reviews)[34] | 3.5/6 (7 reviews)[35] | |
| A Conspiracy of Faith | 100% (6 reviews)[36] | 75 (3 reviews)[37] | 3.7/6 (7 reviews)[38] | |
| 66% (3 reviews)[39] | N/A | 4/6 (7 reviews)[40] | ||
| N/A | N/A | 3.5/6 (8 reviews)[41] | ||
| N/A | N/A | 4/6 (7 reviews)[42] |