MHz Choice Nabs Newest ‘Wallander’ Revival
The newest version of 'Wallander' has found an American streaming home on the service best suited for it, MHz Choice.
Another sign the streaming wars are calming down, and the television landscape is returning to the status quo: the newest version of Wallander has found an American streaming home on MHz Choice, the service best suited for it.
Announced in April 2025, the new series is the fifth Wallander adaptation based on bestselling author Henning Mankell’s novels since 1994, and the third to be filmed in Swedish. The first was a series of feature-length films (nine in all) starring Rolf Lassgård, which today are billed as Wallander: The Original Episodes; however, those are not nearly as well known outside their home country as the 2005 series starring Krister Henriksson. The Henriksson version benefited from coinciding with the BBC English-language remake of Wallander, which starred Kenneth Branagh and ran on the BBC and PBS.
Since then, Netflix attempted an English-language prequel reboot in 2019, called Young Wallander, but it didn’t last. The latest version returns to the same format as the Henriksson adaptation, with a season comprised of three feature-length episodes, but notably calls back to the original Lassgård films by casting Gustaf Skarsgård in the title role. Twenty years ago, Skarsgård co-starred as Young Wallander in the ninth and final Lassgård film, 2007’s The Pyramid (Pyramiden).
The new series will begin by adapting three of Mankell’s most successful books: the 1991 opening novel, Faceless Killers; the fifth book, Sidetracked; and the 1997 release, One Step Behind. (All told, the Wallander series comprises ten novels and four novellas.)
Here’s the series synopsis:
At 42, Kurt Wallander’s life is unraveling. Newly separated after two decades of marriage and estranged from his daughter, he’s a man on the edge. Wallander drinks too much, sleeps too little, and carries the weight of every unsolved case. He is pushed to the limits as he confronts high-stakes cases, and this new adaptation goes deeper than ever before, taking the audience under the skin of this intriguing character with a raw portrayal of a modern man navigating personal collapse while attempting to uphold his detective work.
Skarsgård (Vikings) is joined by an ensemble that includes Göran Ragnerstam (Murder in Sweden) as Kurt Wallander’s father, Henning Wallander; Ana Gil De Melo Nascimento (Hostage) as Kurt’s wife, Mona Wallander; and Sophia Martinsson (Fallen) as his estranged daughter, Linda.
The rest of the supporting cast includes Ulrika Nilsson (Blood Cruise), Eric Ericson (Department Q), Oscar Zia (Cryptid), Christopher Wagelin (The Sandhamn Murders), Anna Bjelkerud (Bäckström), Karl Linnertorp (The Last Client), and Emil Almén (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo).
(Carolina Romare/TV4)
Season 1 will officially comprise three feature-length episodes, with Antonia Pyk, who wrote episodes of the original Lassgård Wallander series, writing the series premiere; Josefin Johansson (Top Dog) and Jörgen Bergmark (Beck) penned the other two episodes. Directors Molly Hartleb (Riding In Darkness) and Pella Kågerman & Hugo Lilja (Egghead Republic) split helming duties. Glenn Lund produces for Jarowskij/Yellow Bird, with TV4 and Banijay Rights.
The new Wallander series is expected to premiere on TV4 in Sweden before the end of 2026. It will debut on MHz Choice in 2027.
All three seasons of the Krister Henriksson Swedish-language adaptation of Wallander are available on MHz Choice; all seasons of the Kenneth Branagh English-language version are available on BritBox; Young Wallander is on Netflix; and Wallander: The Original Episodes are available as streaming rentals on Prime Video.
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