Young Wallander Season 2: Release Date Updates & Story Details
Netflix's Young Wallander prequel series was released to divided critical response, but will there be another season made? Following the hugely popular Swedish detective in a new take on Kurt Wallander's story that sits at odds with the Swedish movie series and TV series and also the British adaptation by the BBC that starred Kenneth Branagh as the titular detective.
Created by the late Swedish crime writer Henning Mankell (who gave his blessing to the Netflix series before his death in 2015), Wallander is the star of no fewer than twelve crime novels (one of which as a secondary character to his daughter Linda) and has been played on screen by four actors to date. Swedes Rolf Lassgård and Krister Henriksson came first, then Branagh and the latest addition is Adam Pålsson, another Swede, who joined Netflix's modern-day prequel in the lead.
Wallander is the archetypal disgruntled detective with not only a dark past but a deeply traumatic one including attempted murder, familial breakdown and the attempted suicide of his daughter. He is a wildcard, marked by his experiences and the series charts his career up to the point he discovers he has Alzheimers in later life. But the Netflix series looks at a more fresh-faced version of the character, showing how he got his emotional scars. So will there be a follow-up to the initial first season?
Will Netflix look to make a follow-up to the first season of Young Wallander? So far, the streaming giant are yet to announce any follow-up or an update on the future of their new detective, but it typically takes a while for the numbers to come back for Netflix to base their decisions on. As ever, renewal will depend on ratings and the show's subscription-growing pull-power, which may not be significant other than for Wallander fans. It's early days at the minute, but Wallander's source material has more than enough promise to warrant more stories, and if the cast are available and the numbers work, a second season could make sense.
As for when the announcement may come, you have to look at precedent. Recently, I'm Not Okay With This was canceled (on August 21), having debuted at the end of February. That fits with the usual track record of Netflix announcing renewals or cancellations between one and six months after release.
Netflix's "modern reimagining" of Henning Mankell's Kurt Wallander novels debuted only on September 3, and with no plans announced to make more so far, it may be a while before a second season gets to the streaming platform. Filming for the first season began on September 11, 2019, after the show was announced in November 2018 so there'd likely be a year to wait for a second series after the point of announcement. August or September 2021 would fit.
The prequel series is set in modern Sweden rather than in the 1970s as befitting the original detective and follows a young Wallander (played by Adam Pålsson) who witnesses the horrific murder on a teenager in the city of Malmö. The ending confirms that Wallander is traumatized by the case and by witnessing the murder of a colleague that he quits the force. Obviously, his story takes him back to his police work, and his dedication (which verges on obsession at times) would never allow him to step away entirely. If a second season happens, expect more grim cases and more of Wallander getting too close.
The key here is that there are dozen of novels in the best-selling Wallander series - which have already inspired nine movie adaptations and two separate series before Young Wallander - so there is definitely enough material to warrant continuation. The majority of the main cast would be able to return - schedules allowing - other than Richard Dillane's Hemberg who is tragically killed off in the finale.
Young Wallander is streaming on Netflix now.