Dept. Q: Creator Scott Frank on how the setting became a character of its own

Dept. Q arrives on Netflix not only as a fresh entry into the crime thriller space but also as a statement on the atmospheric power of place.

Creator Scott Frank, best known for like The Queens Gambit, doesn't just adapt Jussi Adler-Olsen's novels but rather reinvents them with a Scottish framework, crafting a brooding landscape that does more than set the tone; it defines the story for itself.

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Scotland isn’t just a backdrop in Dept. Q—It breathes life into the mystery

Long before cameras rolled, Scott Frank was clear on one thing: Dept Q needed a setting that could pull audiences into its characters' fractured psyches. While the original Danish books centered around Copenhagen, Frank changed that dramatically, anchoring his version in Edinburgh - a choice that proved to be important.

The gothic skyline and layered history of the city offered a visual language that mirrored the moral ambiguity at the heart of the narrative.

Frank influenced by Scandi Noir and British crime dramas, did not stumble into this setting by chance. It was producer Bob Bullocl who first proposed Edinburgh during a lunch in Berlin. According to BBC, Bullock recalls;

“The first thing he said when he got off the bus on the Royal Mile was ‘I love this place, we’re going to film here’...”

From that moment, Edinburgh was no longer a possibility - it was a necessity.

Filming spread across neighborhoods like Marchmont, Portobello, Morningside, and Abbeyhill. These locations weren't just practical but rather they carried a certain energy that underscored the inner world of Carl Morck, played by Matthew Goode.

At times, the streets seem to echo his guilt, his isolation, and his reluctant return to duty after a personal and professional collapse in the city's stone-cold beauty, grounding the emotional weight in Dept. Q.

As Goode noted on Netflix Tudum;

“Scott brilliantly transposed it from Denmark to Scotland. Edinburgh is smaller than Copenhagen, but both are big port cities. (With its) gothic architecture, and it being the judicial center of Scotland, it’s just a really lovely fit.”

And indeed, Frank's version of Dept. Q uses its environments to tell half the story before a single line of dialogue is spoken just through the setting.

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Scott Frank’s meticulous direction reshapes the crime drama through casting, craft, and character

While place forms the bones of Dept. Q., its soul comes from Scott Frank's ability to weave performance, pacing, and aesthetic into a cohesive whole. The show begins in the wreckage of a police tragedy, with Carl Morck left to deal with both survivor's guilt and a cold case that resists simple answers.

It's in this emotional aftermath that the story finds its momentum and the human stakes.

Frank's casting instincts also drive much of the shows' grounded realism. Bringing in Matthew Goode wan't a spontaneous decision but the continuiation of a working relationship that began with The Lookout. Frank told Tudum.

“I’ve been working with him since 2006...Matthew just felt like this guy. I was writing with him in mind. I knew that he could do this and that he would lend this undeniable intelligence with his flintiness, but that he could also be emotional without being sentimental.”

Technically, Dept. Q makes bold choices. A distinct ratio shift in one key episode isolates a character's psyche, while not so linear narratives dabble with viewer assumptions. These decisions aren't stylistic gimmicks. Rather, they're tools that Frank uses to underline disorientation and doubt.

“It was a foundational design choice,” he explained, “meant to create that 'aha' moment for viewers.”

Beyond Edinburgh, some of the production also reached East Lothian and North Berwick with a few scenes being shot in the Fishery Cottage and even in Musselburgh.

Every location was handpicked to evoke mood and nuance, making Dept. Q feel less like a show that happens to be set in Scotland and more like one born from it.

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By re-imagining Dept. Q through a Scottish lens, Scott Frank transforms setting into narrative muscles. This isn't just an adaptation. It's a story where Edinburgh speaks, sighs, and smothers.

With plans for a season 2 already being slowly aligned, its clear that the location wont just be a backdrop and it will continue to evolve with all of its characters.

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