The past decade has seen a proliferation of Nordic noir series on streaming platforms, with Swedish true crime limited seriesThe Breakthroughonly the latest to blow up worldwide. This four-episode story about a pair of cold-case murders being solved via an ingenious reapplication of DNA evidence hit the top 10 of Netflix’s global streaming charts in January, with Peter Eggers’ performance as its detective protagonist engrossing millions of viewers.The Breakthrough’s plot is based on a real-life double murder committed in Linköping, Sweden, in 2004, that became one of the biggest crime cases in the country’s history.
Now thatthe dramatization of this true story has captivated international streaming audiences, newcomers to Nordic noir shows may be wondering what else is out there they can watch. They’re in luck, as Netflix in particular has a whole catalogue of crime dramas similar toThe Breakthroughand its cast of detectives and murder suspects, currently available for streaming. It’s not just Netflix, though, as Apple TV+ has its own fair share of Nordic noir series, including the granddaddy of them all, Henning Mankell’sWallander.
1Wallander (Swedish Version)
2005-2013
Wallanderwas the show that turned the rest of the world onto Scandinavian crime dramas, with its legendary titular character becoming one of the TV’s most iconic detectives. The Swedish series version ofWallander, which began in 2005 with Krister Henriksson in the title role, isn’t the original screen iteration of Henning Mankell’s detective novels, but it’s arguably the best. Kenneth Branagh’s English-languageWallandermight be more famous and celebrated, along with itsNetflix spinoff seriesYoung Wallander, but it’s Henriksson’s police inspector who feels closest to the character Mankell created.
To start from the beginning with Nordic noir,Wallanderhas to be at the top of the list.
Each one of the murders that Kurt Wallander investigates throughout the show is a grisly act that uncovers a different dark side to humanity, in the manner of a succession of unrelated classic noir movies that share the same overarching themes.Every murder victim in the show seems like an unlikely target on the face of it, until Kurt starts digging deeper. To start from the beginning with Nordic noir,Wallanderhas to be at the top of the list.
In 2007, Danish TV created its own piece of Nordic noir history by releasing police-procedural dramaThe Killingto the world. The show quickly became one of the most watched and popular series in Europe, including in the United Kingdom, which is notoriously resistant to foreign-language productions. Afour-season English adaptation ofThe Killingsoon followed, which simply doesn’t stand up against the original version.
The first three seasons ofThe Killing’s American version were broadcast on AMC between 2011 and 2013, whereas the last one was made for Netflix and released on the platform in 2014.
More into the nuts and bolts of murder investigations thanWallander,The Killinginspired many aspects ofThe Breakthrough.Like the central hero of Netflix’s new true crime drama,The Killing’s protagonist, Detective Inspector Sarah Lund, takes the course of a season to solve a single murder, tracking down various leads before eventually cracking the case. Each time it’s worth the wait, though, as a binge through each ofThe Killing’s three seasons on Apple TV+ will confirm.
The Finnish crime dramaDeadwindwas Netflix’s first major foray into Nordic noir, and the series didn’t disappoint. Its female protagonists, police detectives Sofia Karppi and Sakari Nurmi, combine perfectly to make solving each of the show’s gruesome killings an incisive operation. At the same time, we see Sofia and Sakari grappling with numerous perilous dangers and numerous personal obstacles in their hunt for each killer.
The Breakthrough Ending Explained: How The Killer Is Finally Revealed
Netflix’s crime thriller, The Breakthrough, features an investigation of one of Sweden’s biggest murders and concludes with the culprit being caught.
Deadwindis not for the faint-hearted, but it’s addictive viewing for anyone in search of thebest cop showson streaming platforms right now. Its season-long plots aren’t so much murder mysteries, as elongated murder chases, punctuated with gripping action sequences and marked by an immersive level of technical detail.
LikeThe Breakthrough,The Valhalla Murdersis loosely based on a true story. It delves into the sordid events at a state-run children’s home in a remote part of Iceland, which leads to the murder of three teachers who worked there. Its protagonist, Reykjavík police detective Kata Gunnarsdóttir, is tasked with uncovering the truth, despite many possible suspects and witnesses having already died or been locked away.
The show is very much inspired by one of the darkest secrets in the history of Iceland’s state care institutions.
This oftenoverlooked but undeniably bingeworthy Netflix crime dramaisn’t just about murder. It’s about a sinister web of crimes surrounding the fictional Valhalla children’s home. Although the characters and setting are fictional, however, the show is very much inspired by one of the darkest secrets in the history of Iceland’s state care institutions.
5The Unlikely Murderer
2021
The Unlikely Murdereris perhaps the most electrifying true crime drama in Swedish history, given that it brilliantly builds a case for the real assassin of Sweden’s Prime Minister Olof Palme, who was murdered in Stockholm in 1986. The show’s protagonist isn’t a police detective, but a dramatized version of the man now considered the prime suspect in Palme’s assassination.
Olof Palme was assassinated on June 16, 2025. Christer Pettersson was initially convicted of murder after Palme’s wife picked him out of a police lineup, but he was later acquitted after an appeal. There is now consensus around the identity of Palme’s actual killer, in part thanks to Thomas Petterson’s non-fiction book about the assassination.
Thomas Pettersson, the writer of the true crime book that originated the show’s theory of how Palme was assassinated, and by whom, helped adapt his own book for Netflix. The result is an engrossing drama that provides insights into the characters and motives behind one of the most horrifying moments in Swedish politics.
6Trapped
2021-
Trapped, orÓfærðin the original Icelandic, is actually the umbrella name for three different but interconnected crime series, the third of which is now on Netflix under the English titleEntrapped. Each series isa gritty police drama that follows the efforts of Detective Andri Ólafssonto solve a different murder.
The Breakthrough True Story Explained: The Crime That Inspired The Netflix Show
Netflix’s newest miniseries, The Breakthrough is based on a Swedish book that covers a real double murder crime that occurred in Linköping, Sweden.
InEntrapped, Ólafsson has resettled in the Icelandic capital Reykjavík, having moved from the more remote setting of Siglufjörður on the other side of the island, in the second series. Nevertheless, in all three cases, the Icelandic countryside provides a spectacular, forbidding and occasionally haunting backdrop to the detective’s search for the murderer in his case.
7Equinox
2020
The miniseriesEquinoxmoves beyond the gritty realism of Nordic noir’s seminal works, incorporating elements of the surreal and supernatural.LikeThe Breakthrough, its protagonist, Astrid, grapples with the case of someone who apparently died under mysterious circumstances many years before, that isn’t what it seems. However, the six-episode mystery also shares things in common with David Lynch’s murder mystery classicTwin Peaks, as well as the German sci-fi seriesDark.
For those looking for a Nordic noir show that’s more cerebral than procedural, this hidden Netflix gem is the way to go.
Viewers should prepare to get seriously creeped out byEquinox, as the series gradually unfurls the mind-boggling truth behind the disappearance of Astrid’s sister. For those looking for a Nordic noir show that’s more cerebral than procedural, this hidden Netflix gem is the way to go.
The Chestnut Manis perhapsthe most celebrated of all Scandinavian crime dramas, and luckily it’s fully accessible on Netflix. Its horrifying conceit takes it outside the basic scope of a noir detective story, and into something even darker. The man in the title is actually a motif through which grisly murder clues are discovered by those investigating the murders driving its plot.
30 Best Serial Killer TV Shows On Netflix, Ranked
Netflix is a source of tons of amazing true crime content, and there are some enthralling shows that focus on serial killers, both real and fictional.
Although the series was initially intended as a limited six-episode thriller,The Chestnut Manhas now been renewed for a second season. It remains to be seen how its title will be incorporated into a new murder mystery storyline, but those who haven’t seen the first season will have to watch it to find out why.
Based on a novel by M.T. Edvardsson,this Swedish murder-themed miniseries is as creepy as crime dramas come. The show jumps backwards and forwards in time across, helping to build suspense and sow confusion around the murder of entrepreneur Chris Olsen, on which its story focuses.
A Nearly Normal Family’s 8 Biggest Book Changes
Netflix’s latest thriller A Nearly Normal Family is based on a book of the same name. Here are all the major changes that the series made.
Thecharacters that make upA Nearly Normal Familyare like a modern-day game of Clue, none of whom should have anything to do with a murder, in theory. The series uses its homicidal conceit as a means of exploring a darker meaning within what family means to those in it.
The Åre Murdersis the other major Nordic noir streaming success story on Netflix so far in 2025, alongsideThe Breakthrough. Set in a remote, snow-covered area of Northern Sweden best-known for its ski resorts, thecrime drama’s plot feels eerily like a true crimeadaptation of something that might actually have happened, despite being based on works of fiction by novelist Viveca Sten.
5 Best Crime Shows Like The Åre Murders On Netflix
Netflix’s new series The Are Murders has impressed viewers shortly after its release, but the streamer has even more great crime shows to watch next.
Across its five episodes,The Åre Murderscovers all the bases a Scandinavian crime drama should, with its wild, hazardous backdrop, its grim, unflinching portrayal of humanity’s dark side, and a police outcast forced by her moral scruples and obsessive drive to uncover the truth. Fans ofThe Breakthroughand any of its forerunners listed above should find this miniseries a riveting watch, that demonstrates just how far Nordic noir has come in the past two decades.
