'Department Q' Will Go Online at the End of May

The average American reader is probably not very familiar with Danish author Jussi Adler-Olsen or his wildly popular series of thrillers, the Department Q series, initially titled Afdeling Q in Danish. Currently at ten books, with the last one published in 2022, Netflix acquired the rights to produce the first-ever English-language adaptation of the series in 2023, beginning with Adler-Olsen's first novel, which was retitled The Keeper of Lost Causes when it was published in English, following the adventures of homicide detective Carl Mørck, who finds himself promoted up to lead Department Q after losing multiple team members in a gunfight.

Much like other Nordic noir stories and remakes of foreign thrillers in English for U.K. viewers, Department Q is reset from its original fjords and moved house south to Scotland. Downton Abbey's Matthew Goode stars as DCI Carl Morck (note the anglicized O), who is still coming off the loss of his old team, just in Edinburgh instead of Oslo. Goode co-stars opposite Kelly Macdonald (Line of Duty) as Dr. Rachel Irving, the therapist tasked with helping Morck work through the loss of his former team, and the emotions he feels about their deaths leading to his promotion.

The series was chosen for adaptation by Scott Frank, best known to Netflix viewers for his hit The Queen's Gambit and more recently the creative force behind AMC+'s Monsieur Spade. Production began in mid-2024, and the series has finally been given a release date for May 2025.