New actors for Netflix’s ‘Young Wallander’ S2 announced

Several new cast members for the second season of Netflix’s crime drama series, “Young Wallander,” have been announced. First look images from the season two have also been released.

The season two will be available to watch on Netflix next year.

The series is based on Swedish crime writer, children’s author and dramatist Henning Mankell’s best-selling novels about fictional Inspector Kurt Wallander. The show’s first season shows Wallander as a recently graduated police officer in his early twenties investigating his first case.

The title character is played by Swedish actor and musician Adam Pålsson, who will return in season two with British actresses Leanne Best and Ellise Chappell along with English actor Yasen Atour. The new cast members announced on Tuesday for season two of the series include Nigerian actor Tomiwa Edun (“Merlin”) and British actress Lisa Hammond (“EastEnders”), who will play Superintendent Samuel Osei and Roberta Modin, respectively. Other new cast members also announced today include British actress Kim Adis (“Get Even”) and UK actors Lewis Mackinnon (“Doctors”) and Josef Davies (“The King”).

The Kurt Wallander novels by Mankell are set in and around the town of Ystad, 35 miles south-east of the city of Malmö, in Sweden’s southern province of Scania. The first novel in the series was published in 1991 and introduced Wallander as a 42-year-old police detective. Based on that timeline, “Young Wallander” should have been set in 1970s Sweden. However, the Netflix series showing a young Wallander takes place in the present-day Sweden, making it a modern-day story.

“‘Young Wallander’ is a young, edgy, and modern series that sees Henning Mankell’s iconic detective Kurt Wallander investigate his gripping first case,” said Netflix in the press release announcing the release of the show’s trailer last year. “The story focuses on the formative experiences – professional and personal – faced by Kurt as a recently graduated police officer in his early twenties.”

About the second season, Pålsson said, “I anticipate this new case to be even more vibrant, thrilling and gripping. We will go deeper and broader in the story and get to know Reza, Rask, Mona and other characters even more. It feels like we have found home now when we know the universe and characters better, what color palette to paint with and with which pencil.”

He added, “Jens Jonsson is confident, funny and enthusiastic as the director. And with Gaute Gunnari behind the camera everything looks insanely nice. Not to mention my fantastic co-actors… They knock my socks off every day! I feel very fortunate to be a part of this production and I’m really eager to soon present Young Wallander to the Netflix members all around the world.”

The series is produced by Yellow Bird UK, the British sister company of Banijay Group’s high-end Swedish drama production company, Yellow Bird Entertainment.

See the first look images also released today, here.