Department Q
# Department Q

Department Q (Danish: Afdeling Q) is a Danish Nordic noir film series, based on the crime novels by Danish author Jussi Adler-Olsen.

## Novels

Originally written in Danish, the novels have been translated into numerous languages, including English, Bulgarian, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Dutch, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Slovakian, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish and Vietnamese.

Despite using the same translations, the Penguin Group titled the first five novels differently in the UK and the USA. Their editions use the same English titles as the film adaptations.

| Novel | Original title | Year | Film adaptation | Year |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Mercy (Adler-Olsen novel) [da; de] | Kvinden i buret | 2007 2011 (USA & UK) | The Keeper of Lost Causes | 2013 |
| Disgrace (Adler-Olsen novel) [da; de] | Fasandræberne | 2008 2012 (USA & UK) | The Absent One | 2014 |
| Redemption (Adler-Olsen novel) [da; de] | Flaskepost fra P | 2009 2013 (USA & UK) | A Conspiracy of Faith | 2016 |
| Guilty (Adler-Olsen novel) [da; de] | Journal 64 | 2010 2013 (USA) 2014 (UK) | The Purity of Vengeance [da; de; es; fa; fr; it; ko; no; sv] | 2018 |
| Buried (novel) [da] | Marco Effekten | 2012 2014 (USA & UK) | The Marco Effect [da; fr; sv] | 2021 |
| The Hanging Girl [da] | Den Grænseløse | 2014 2015 (USA & UK) | Boundless | 2024 |
| The Scarred Woman [da] | Selfies | 2016 2017 (USA & UK) | | |
| Victim 2117 [da] | Offer 2117 | 2019 2020 (USA & UK) | | |
| The Shadow Murders [da] | Natrium Chlorid | 2021 2022 (USA & UK) | | |

## Films

* The Keeper of Lost Causes (2013)
* The Absent One (2014)
* A Conspiracy of Faith (2016)
* The Purity of Vengeance [da; de; es; fa; fr; it; ko; no; sv] (2018)
* The Marco Effect [da; fr; sv] (2021)

Upcoming

* Boundless (2024)
* The Scarred Woman (2024)
* Victim 2117 (2026)
* The Shadow Murders (TBA)
* Untitled final film (TBA)

The first four films were produced by Peter Aalbæk Jensen and Louise Vesth through Zentropa, however despite their commercial and critical success, author Jussi Adler-Olsen was unhappy with the results and the casting, feeling that the films and characters departed from his novels too much and that his suggestions were being ignored, leading to Nordisk Film (who had already distributed the prior films in Denmark) and producer Mikael Rieks [da] taking over for the remainder of the series, with all the recurring roles recast.

### Cast and characters

| Character | The Keeper of Lost Causes (2013) | The Absent One (2014) | A Conspiracy of Faith (2016) | The Purity of Vengeance [da; de; es; fa; fr; it; ko; no; sv] (2018) | The Marco Effect [da; fr; sv] (2021) | Boundless (2024) | The Scarred Woman (2024) | Victim 2117 (2026) | The Shadow Murders (TBA) | Untitled final film (TBA) |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Carl Mørck | Nikolaj Lie Kaas | Nikolaj Lie Kaas | Nikolaj Lie Kaas | Nikolaj Lie Kaas | Ulrich Thomsen | Ulrich Thomsen | Ulrich Thomsen | Ulrich Thomsen | Ulrich Thomsen | Ulrich Thomsen |
| Assad | Fares Fares | Fares Fares | Fares Fares | Fares Fares | Zaki Youssef [da] | Afshin Firouzi [da; no] | Afshin Firouzi [da; no] | Afshin Firouzi [da; no] | Afshin Firouzi [da; no] | Afshin Firouzi [da; no] |
| Rose Knudsen | | Johanne Louise Schmidt | Johanne Louise Schmidt | Johanne Louise Schmidt | Sofie Torp [da; fr; no] | Sofie Torp [da; fr; no] | Sofie Torp [da; fr; no] | Sofie Torp [da; fr; no] | Sofie Torp [da; fr; no] | Sofie Torp [da; fr; no] |
| Marcus Jacobsen | Søren Pilmark | Søren Pilmark | Søren Pilmark | Søren Pilmark | Henrik Noél Olesen [da] | Henrik Noél Olesen [da] | Henrik Noél Olesen [da] | Henrik Noél Olesen [da] | Henrik Noél Olesen [da] | Henrik Noél Olesen [da] |

Zaki Youssef [da] was unable to return as Assad after The Marco Effect [da; fr; sv] due to having recently become a father having other scheduling conflicts with the filming of Boundless, which started on 5 September 2022, half a year earlier than planned.

### Crew

| Film | The Keeper of Lost Causes (2013) | The Absent One (2014) | A Conspiracy of Faith (2016) | The Purity of Vengeance [da; de; es; fa; fr; it; ko; no; sv] (2018) | The Marco Effect [da; fr; sv] (2021) | Boundless (2024) |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Director | Mikkel Nørgaard [da; no] | Mikkel Nørgaard [da; no] | Hans Petter Moland | Christoffer Boe | Martin Zandvliet | Ole Christian Madsen |
| Producer(s) | Peter Aalbæk Jensen Louise Vesth | Peter Aalbæk Jensen Louise Vesth | Peter Aalbæk Jensen Louise Vesth | Peter Aalbæk Jensen Louise Vesth | Mikael Rieks [da] | Mikael Rieks [da] Malene Blenkov |
| Screenwriter(s) | Nikolaj Arcel | Nikolaj Arcel Rasmus Heisterberg | Nikolaj Arcel | Nikolaj Arcel Bo Hr. Hansen [da] Mikkel Nørgaard [da; no] | Anders August Thomas Porsager | Jakob Weis |
| Composer(s) | Patrik Andrén Uno Helmersson Johan Söderqvist | Patrik Andrén Uno Helmersson Johan Söderqvist | Nicklas Schmidt [da; de] | Mikkel Maltha Anthony Lledo | Sune Martin | TBA |
| Cinematographer | Eric Kress | Eric Kress | John Andreas Andersen | Jacob Møller | Aske Foss | Jørgen Johansson (cinematographer) [da] |
| Editor(s) | Morten Egholm Martin Schade | Morten Egholm Martin Schade | Olivier Bugge Coutté [no] Nicolaj Monberg | Janus Billeskov Jansen [da; ar; arz; de; fr; sv] My Thordal | Per K. Kirkegaard Per Sandholt | Frederik Strunk Nicolaj Monberg |
| Production company | Zentropa | Zentropa | Zentropa | Zentropa | Nordisk Film | Nordisk Film |
| Distribution | Nordisk Film | Nordisk Film | Nordisk Film | Nordisk Film | Nordisk Film | Nordisk Film |
| Runtime | 96 minutes | 119 minutes | 112 minutes | 119 minutes | 125 minutes | TBA |
| Release date | October 3, 2013 | October 2, 2014 | March 3, 2016 | October 4, 2018 | May 27, 2021 | February 1, 2024 |

### Reception

**Box office performance**

| Film | Release date | Box office gross (Denmark) | Attendance (Denmark) | Box office ranking (Danish films) | Budget |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| The Keeper of Lost Causes | October 3, 2013 | DKK 59,010,000 | 721,256 | #5 | €5,000,000 |
| The Absent One | October 2, 2014 | DKK 68,100,000 | 764,002 | #2 | €5,200,000 |
| A Conspiracy of Faith | March 3, 2016 | DKK 64,300,000 | 704,971 | #4 | €5,300,000 |
| The Purity of Vengeance [da; de; es; fa; fr; it; ko; no; sv] | October 4, 2018 | DKK 72,500,000 | 765,111 | #1 | €5,200,000 |
| The Marco Effect [da; fr; sv] | May 27, 2021 | N/A | 225,243 | N/A | €7,400,000 |
| Boundless | February 1, 2024 | TBA | TBA | TBA | €6,900,000 |
| Total | Total | DKK 263,910,000 | 3,180,583 | | €35,000,000 |
| Average | Average | DKK 65,977,500 | 636,117 | | €5,830,000 |

The films have been massively successful, selling over three million tickets in Denmark alone, where the installments regularly top the yearly box-office. The Purity of Vengeance [da; de; es; fa; fr; it; ko; no; sv] (2018) became the highest grossing Danish film of all time upon release, with a gross of 72,500,000 DKK, The Absent One (2014) the second highest with 68,1 M. DKK, A Conspiracy of Faith (2016) the fourth with 64,3 M. DKK, and The Keeper of Lost Causes (2012) the fifth with 59,01 M. DKK. The Purity of Vengeance is additionally the 11th overall highest grossing film in Denmark. The fifth film The Marco Effect [da; fr; sv] however, which marked a complete recast, was significantly less successful despite a larger budget.

**Critical response**

| Film | Rotten Tomatoes | Metacritic | Kino.dk |
| - | - | - | - |
| The Keeper of Lost Causes | 71% (28 reviews) | 62 (8 reviews) | 4.2/6 (7 reviews) |
| The Absent One | 92% (12 reviews) | 61 (6 reviews) | 3.5/6 (7 reviews) |
| A Conspiracy of Faith | 100% (6 reviews) | 75 (3 reviews) | 3.7/6 (7 reviews) |
| The Purity of Vengeance [da; de; es; fa; fr; it; ko; no; sv] | 66% (3 reviews) | N/A | 4/6 (7 reviews) |
| The Marco Effect [da; fr; sv] | N/A | N/A | 3.5/6 (8 reviews) |
