Finishing production is the least visible milestone in television, yet it is the one that tells you most about a show's momentum. A crime thriller that drew near-perfect reviews and has now wrapped a second season with more episodes and a wider storyline is in an enviable position: the hard part of proving the concept is done, and what remains is execution. Expansion is a risk, though. Longer seasons require more plot, and more plot is where tightly constructed suspense shows often lose the thread. The best way to handle growth is to deepen existing relationships rather than to add new ones, and to keep the central mystery legible even as the world around it gets complicated. Viewers who enjoyed the first run should watch for pacing in the opening episodes. A confident return establishes its rhythm quickly, while a struggling one spends three installments explaining itself before the story begins. The first two episodes of the new run will show whether the extra length has strengthened the story or merely stretched it.
Filming officially wrapped on Season 2 ofDept. Qas of October 24, meaning it's almost time forMatthew Goode's troubled Detective Chief Inspector Carl Morck to get back on the case. The series, based onJussi Adler-Olsen's long-running series of novels,moved quickly to returnafter breaking out as a massive success last year, ending with a production schedule a bit faster than initially anticipated. It'll enter its Sophomore outing coming off a debut thathas racked up over 27 million viewsto this point and spent six weeks in Netflix's global top ten. Series helmersScott FrankandChandni Lakhaniwill be going much further and larger than the moody streets of Edinburgh for their next story, too.
Britain makes more detective television than any country has any business making, and somehow almost all of it is good. Here is the one you belong in, what it says about you, and the case for it being the best of the four.
You want the tea, the gossip and the vicar behaving oddly. Midsomer is a county where the scenery is beautiful, the fete is on Saturday and the murder rate is roughly that of a small war, and absolutely nobody involved thinks this is strange.
You feel other people's grief as if it were handed to you personally. Broadchurch is less a whodunnit than a study of what a small town does to itself when it finds out that the answer was always going to be somebody everybody already knew.
You go through things rather than around them. John Luther is the best detective in London and a liability to everybody who works with him, and the show is completely honest that those two facts are the same fact.
You say the thing and you do not dress it up. Vera Stanhope turns up in a hat and a mac, is rude to almost everybody, and is the only person in the room prepared to ask the question that the family has been waiting years for somebody to ask.
While the first seasonadaptedMercyand introduced DCI Morckand the titular department tucked away in the police department's basement asthey crack their first cold case, Season 2 will take onDisgrace, Adler-Olsen's second novel. It will take Morck into the world of the Scottish elite, with Frank previously stating it would focus on "rich and powerful people who believe they are above the law.” Assuming the series sticks close to the novel, the investigation will begin curiously with the closed case of a young brother and sister murdered 20 years ago. The killer was found to be a student at a boarding school who confessed to the crime, but the file wouldn't be on Mock's desk if it were solved, would it? He's left to question who put it there, what they know that throws the verdict into doubt, and why they've come to Department Q now.
'Dept. Q' Season 2 Has New Names Entering the Basement
Goode will be reunited with much of his old team forDept. QSeason 2, includingAlexej Manvelov,Leah Byrne,Jamie Sives,Mark Bonnar,Kate Dickie,Aaron McVeigh, andSanjeev Kohli. They'll be joined by a massively expanded cast headlined bySpeak No Evil'sAisling Franciosias Kimmie and formerThe Late Late ShowhostJames Cordenas Dr. Ben Smith, alongsideGreg Wise,Nicholas Rowe,Tony Curran,Hamish Clark,Alex Ferns,Ross Anderson,Rebecca Root, and more. Missing, however, will beKelly Macdonaldas Carl's therapist, but otherwise, it's a jam-packed season of stars. The biggest addition may be on the filming side, asDept. Qventured beyond Edinburgh to shoot in over 100 locations around Scotland to giverich layers to Carl's latest investigation.
A release date has not been set forDept. QSeason 2. Stay tuned here at Collider for more now that production is complete.
