Why Netflixs Young Wallander Changed The Time Setting

Why Netflix’s Young Wallander Changed The Time Setting

Young Wallander brought detective Kurt Wallander to the modern world, but why did the Netflix series decide to change the time setting?

You Are Reading :[thien_display_title]

Why Netflixs Young Wallander Changed The Time Setting

Young Wallander is based on Henning Mankell’s character Kurt Wallander, but the series changed the time setting of the original story – and here’s why. Crime series continue to be very popular, fiction or not, and Netflix has a wide selection of that genre. Its latest addition is the series Young Wallander, a new version of the Swedish detective who reached worldwide recognition thanks to the BBC’s Wallander, starring Kenneth Branagh as a mature Kurt Wallander.

Young Wallander follows the young years of the title character, who’s working on his first case. After witnessing a horrible murder in his neighborhood, Wallander is promoted from policeman to detective and starts working on the case, even though he’s constantly trapped in an inner battle between what feels right and what must be done according to the law. As mentioned above, Young Wallander is based on the character created by Swedish author Henning Mankell, but the series made some changes to the source material, most notably its time setting.

Kurt Wallander made his debut in 1991 in the novel Faceless Killers (Mördare utan ansikte), but the detective was born in 1957-1958. In the original story of his first case, included in the book The Pyramid (Pyramiden, published in 1999) and appropriately titled “Wallander’s First Case”, Wallander was 21, thus the story is set in 1969, in the middle of the Vietnam war. Even though Wallander’s stories are set in Sweden, the war was a topic of debate during his first case, but the series changed the time setting completely, bringing Wallander and company to the present day, with all the technological advances of 2020 and all its social and political issues as well.

See also  Kaleidoscope Why The Alfred Hitchcock Movie Was Never Made

Although both Young Wallander and Wallander focus on the same character, they are separate stories, which is why the Netflix series was free to do what it wanted with it, including changing its time setting. Wallander also brought the detective to the present day at the time, but Young Wallander is a new and fresher take, following Kurt at the beginning of his career as a detective. Changing the time setting to 2020 allowed the writers to address more up-to-date themes and issues, as are racism and immigration – that’s not to say these weren’t present back in the 1960s-1970s, but they have gotten more attention after recent events in different parts of the world.

What remained intact is Kurt Wallander’s sensitivity towards those in need and his constant search for justice over what the law says should be done, which more often than not don’t match. Although taking viewers back to the late 1960s/early 1970s in Young Wallander would have been closer to the source material and could have been interesting to watch, it wouldn’t have had the same impact as setting it in the present day, which also helps viewers connect with it as these are themes they are familiar with. If Young Wallander is to continue with a second season, this new time setting will open more doors when it comes to themes and social issues it can address.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/young-wallander-netflix-modern-day-change-why/

Movies -