Dept. Q may have pieced together the puzzle of the disappearance of Merritt Lingard (Chloe Pirrie), but fans of the series are desperate for the show to be greenlit for a second season.
The nine-episode series, which debuted on the platform on May 29 and is based on Danish author Jussi Adler-Olsen's series of 10 novels, tells the story of Detective Morck being assigned to lead a newly-assembled cold case unit after suffering a gunshot wound in a brutal attack. With a Mötley Crüe of unlikely peers, Detective Morck is tasked with his unit's first investigation: the mysterious disappearance of prosecutor Merritt Lingard several years earlier.
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While season one of Dept. Q was adapted from the first in Adler-Olsen's book series, Mercy, which focusses on the disappearance of Lingard four years before the series' start, a potential second season will likely draw inspiration from Adler-Olsen's other books. This is everything you need to know.
Dept Q season two will be another murder mystery
Adler-Olsen's second book, Disgrace, was originally published in 2008 and tells the story of Detective Morck and his team receiving a case involving the brutal murder of a brother and sister in their family's summer home in the late 1980s. While it was long-assumed that the case was solved, the mystery still finds its way to Detective Morck's desk and what ensues is far from straight forward. In fact, one of the clear suspects eventually emerges with additional information pertaining to the case: that, while the majority of the students had furthered their fortunes, one of the girls from the group of friends, Kimmie Lassen, seemingly vanished from society, in order to not only evade potential police scrutiny, but others who may wish to silence her. As the dormant case is re-examined, Kimmie finds herself becoming the focus of the police force's renewed energy in the series' original setting of Copenhagen.
As the book proceeds, we learn that Kimmie's self exile from society was, in actual fact, a result of the murder of the siblings, which scarred her. Detective Morck then brings the surviving classmates, Ditlev Pram, Ulrik Dybbøl Jensen, and Floren Torsten, back into the fold to discover the truth about what happened many years before.
Do Detective Morck and Dr. Irving become a couple?
Throughout the first season of Dept. Q, police therapist Dr. Rachel Irving (Kelly Macdonald) was tasked with helping Detective Morck better handle his PTSD following the terrifying shooting that left him injured and his peer James Hardy (Jamie Sives) paralysed. By the end of the nine episodes, Detective Morck has finally learned how to open up to Dr. Irving and we see that they've developed a healthy relationship. Within Adler-Olsen's novels, Detective Morck's relationship with his therapist Mona Ibsen leads to him pursuing her romantically, suggesting that a relationship between the Netflix series' Carl and Rachel may well be on the cards.
Will we learn more about Salim's story?
Throughout the novel series, Salim's book counterpart, Hafez El-Assad, is framed as a character with a history shrouded in mystery. Yet, as he reveals himself to be exceptionally capable, Detective Morck pushes for Hafez to be fast-tracked to the rank of Detective Inspector.
Yet, throughout the second book — and no doubt series, if it's commissioned — each newly-revealed skill of Hafez's casts further suspicion on his past and what drove him to become a refugee in the first place. This suspicion eventually culminates in both Morck and Rose becoming more suspicious of his ties to the Iraq War within Adler-Olsen's fifth novel, Buried.
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Naomi May is a seasoned culture journalist and editor with over ten years’ worth of experience in shaping stories and building digital communities. After graduating with a First Class Honours from City University's prestigious Journalism course, Naomi joined the Evening Standard, where she worked across both the newspaper and website. She is now the Digital Editor at ELLE Magazine and has written features for the likes of The Guardian, Vogue, Vice and Refinery29, among many others. Naomi is also the host of the ELLE Collective book club.
