Department Q
Danish crime novels adapted into films and a Netflix series.
Jussi Adler-Olsen wrote eleven Danish Nordic noir crime novels about a Copenhagen cold case unit called Department Q. These books inspired a hit Danish film series and a Scottish TV adaptation on Netflix.
Quick Facts
- Author
- Jussi Adler-Olsen
- Title orig
- da, Afdeling Q
- Country
- Denmark
- Language
- Danish language
- Genre
- Nordic noir
- Number of books
- 10
Facts from the source article.
Novels
The novels were originally written in Danish and translated into many languages, including English, French, German, Spanish, and Japanese. The Penguin Group published the first five novels under different titles in the United Kingdom and the United States, using the same British titles as the film adaptations.
Adaptations
Upcoming films include The Scarred Woman in 2026, Victim 2117 in 2028, The Shadow Murders in 2030, and Locked In in 2032. The first four films were produced by Peter Aalbæk Jensen and Louise Vesth through Zentropa, but author Jussi Adler-Olsen was unhappy with the results and casting, leading to Nordisk Film and producer Mikael Rieks taking over with new castings. An English-language Netflix adaptation, set in Scotland and filmed in Edinburgh, premiered in May 2025. Scott Frank is showrunner and co-writer, with Matthew Goode as Carl Morck, Alexej Manvelov as Akram Salim, Leah Byrne as Rose, Chloe Pirrie as Merritt Lingard, and Kelly Macdonald as Dr. Rachel Irving. Zaki Youssef could not return as Assad after The Marco Effect due to fatherhood and scheduling conflicts with Boundless.
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