'Young Wallander' Is A Prequel Out Of Time

The original Wallander novels were written by author Henning Mankell back in the 1990s. There are 11 books altogether, the first ten of which were published between 1990 and 2004 and then a final one in 2009 after the BBC remake of the Swedish TV series (itself a remake of an earlier film series) brought the stories new fame. The hard-bitten crime stories will be familiar to fans, even if you've never seen the films, which starred Rolf Lassgård, or the two TV series, which starred Krister Henriksson and Kenneth Branagh, respectively. Kurt Wallander is a jaded detective with a penchant for existential thinking and a bloodhound nose for solving crimes in and around his hometown of Ystad in Scania.

Though the novels were set in the 1990s, the TV shows have generally been updated to go with the times. For instance, the Branagh series, which ran on and off from 2008 to 2016, was set in the present day, with Wallander aging along with the actor. By the time the final season ran, Wallander was slowing succumbing to Alzheimer's. So the idea of giving the show the Morse/Endeavour-style prequel treatment of a "Young Wallander" did not seem so far fetched. The novels provide enough passing references to Wallander's early cases. The first novel mentions that he was nearly killed by a suspect early on; there's also divorce in his past. (Wallander struggles with his relationship with daughter Linda, who also suffers from depression in the books.) Add in a few mysteries and it's good to go.

Rewinding the clock to the 1980s to see a bright-eyed and idealistic Wallander seemed a sensible proposition. Moreover, 1980s-set period pieces are big business on Netflix, which has seen success with Stranger Things and Glow. But fans should not break out the neon and hairspray just yet. Young Wallander attempts to create a prequel while also maintaining a modern-day setting, making this series far less of a spinoff and more of a clumsy reboot.