Dept. Q: "It’s not the situation that makes you watch... It’s these people"—Director Frank on character over plot

Netflix's latest crime thriller series, Dept. Q, is based on the Nordic noir book series by Danish writer Jussi Adler-Olsen, which contains a total of ten books.

Created by The Queen's Gambit's Scott Frank, Season 1 introduces us to Carl Morck (Matthew Goode) and his team of misfit officers, who eventually form Department Q to tackle cold cases.

While each of Olsen's books is centered around a new cold case tackled by Morck and his team, Frank was more interested in the characters, as he told Netflix's Tudum:

"It’s not the situation that makes you watch it, or the comedy. It’s these people."

Frank delivers on his statement as he creates compelling characters in Dept. Q, who stay long after the central mystery is over.

More on this in our story.

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Dept. Q is a story about the characters more than the underlying mystery

While most crime thrillers base their main characters on just enough backstory, Frank's Dept. Q is different. Long after the central mystery around Merritt Lingard is solved in the Season 1 finale, the characters of the show remain mysterious.

The reason Goode's Morck and his team are such well-defined characters in the show is because Frank prioritized his characters more than the plot, as he discussed with Netflix's Tudum. He further discussed how Goode was his first choice to play the protagonist:

"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."

Carl Morck is not just another detective obsessed with a cold case in Dept. Q. In fact, when the show starts, he couldn't care less about the case because he is fighting his own demons.

He is still recovering from the aftermath of an ambush that led to one young officer's death, and his only good friend, DCI James Hardy, was paralyzed in the shooting. Morck is an emotionally distraught individual when Dept. Q starts, which is visible through small scenes where he loses his calm.

From bickering with his housemates to giving the cold shoulder to his therapist, Morck is a fully fleshed character, and Season 1 merely touched on the tip of the iceberg.

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Matthew Goode breaks his character in Dept. Q

While Carl Morck begins as an unlikable character in Dept. Q, the titular department becomes his catharsis, and as he assembles his team of misfit officers, he becomes more embroiled in the mystery, and his PTSD and guilt over the shooting start to melt away.

Talking to Country & Townhouse, Goode described his character as

''He’s extremely abrasive and irascible, vitriolically rude to anyone he can get his hands on, really. But he’s very damaged. He’s been on the murder squad for 15 years, and a recent event has left him suffering some trauma, both physical and mental.''

He continued,

''He also has an extremely interesting home life: he’s divorced, he’s a wreck of a man, which is a trope we’ve seen more than once in the detective genre, but you’ve never had it done by Scott Frank!''

In addition to Morck, his partner on duty, Akram, is an equally intriguing character, partly because Season 1 merely introduced him and left his backstory for future seasons. He is laid out as a complex puzzle for the audience to solve.

Since Season 1 merely touched upon the characters, the upcoming seasons might explore more about their backstories, as Frank and Goode are certainly interested in expanding the show to future seasons.

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