After the comments I got when sharing my review about Elite Force · GIGN (2026), I decided to write a review of another series, a Nordic noir called Young Wallander that I liked and maybe you can consider adding to your waiting list, if you haven't watched it.
It is called Young Wallander, as there's another series, called Wallander and I've seen bad reviews, complaining about Young Wallander not being what they had expected as the original series was filmed between 2005 and 2013 and the new series is featuring the times when it was filmed. I'm not sure if there's a connection between the two at all, don't really care either as when you do, you already have expectations that most of the times lead to disappointment. I watched the series as it was and loved it.
The country of origin is United Kingdom, but the series revolves around the young Kurt Wallander, a young (obviously) police officer in Malmö, Sweden. Most of the actors are Brits, but the lead actor, Adam Pålsson is Swedish and I appreciate that as it gives some kind of authenticity to the series.
So the series starts with Kurt Wallander (Adam Pålsson), a uniform officer witnessing a brutal crime in the neighborhood, where he lives and no one knows he's a police officer. After the crime, as he was an eye witness basically, coordinating the crowd, he's asked to give a hand to the investigating detectives. This would be a dream of every uniform officer, but Kurt being promoted to major crimes means his best friend is dropped from the list. Kurt has no choice but to accept it.
We have the chance to get a glimpse into the Swedish crime life during two seasons of the series. Life of a detective is never easy, Kurt finds himself in all kinds of situations, is forced to make split second decisions, that have consequences and can be questionable after. You as a viewer, have the chance to think about what you'd have done in Kurt's place.
What I loved about the series is that the writes made sure to give time to the story, didn't rush it and also focused on the moral aspect of the action as well. They kept the story as close to reality as possible, no one wanted to play Rambo and there was no need to count the corpses either. The cases are not something you don't see in real life and this is a good thing here, as well as you see Wallander getting experience and growing as a person.
The cast is really good, Adam Pålsson is perfect for the role, his Swedish accent is a huge plus, even though so many had a problem with it. There are a couple of names I have to mention, among which Leanne Best, playing Frida Rask, a senior detective partnering with Wallander and Ellise Chappell playing Mona, who's running a charity and not only.
If you're looking for a detective series, that is focusing on the cases, the private life of the characters and it is slow paced as well, give this a try.
When it comes to Nordic noir, I have two series to recommend to you. This is one and the other one is coming as I need to watch it again first. Not because I forgot what was about, but because it's good and worth watching.
Rating: 90/100
