The rebooted Wallander will one of the biggest Scandi launches of the year but producer Glenn Lund said today the production process was anything but smooth sailing.
Lund opened up at Seriencamp about the “really big arguments” some had on set with star and exec producer Gustaf Skarsgård, which he said sometimes lasted “for months.”
Lund said this came from Skarsgård being so heavily involved and stressed it is driven by his passion and devotion to the character and iconic source material.
He revealed that Skarsgård has previously said he “doesn’t watch crime shows or like them” and often had “opinions that would go in the complete opposite of the network.”
“He is really protecting the character but you have to find the balance because you can’t go all in on what he wants,” said Lund. “He understood that as well and you could tell him but we had very big arguments too for months. But that is what is good about making TV, you are a bigger group of people.”
Skarsgård is an exec and Lund said he “knows the material so much better than the directors and that changes dynamics.” “We spent an insane amount of time casting and he was there reading with so many actors for a lot of the parts,” he added. “He was trying to find [cast] that would feel authentic and small townish, so it would fit the world we were going for.”
Skarsgård previously played the iconic detective in flashback scenes for the Rolf Lassgård film The Pyramid.
Henning Mankell’s books have been adapted numerous times down the decades both locally and in the UK, where Kenneth Branagh played the detective. A prequel, Young Wallander, also aired on Netflix.
This version, for TV4 and ARD Degeto, sees the titular character grapple with middle-age, alcoholism and the haunting nature of his job while investigating crimes in the idyllic town of Ystad.
Despite its iconic lead, Lund stressed that Wallander, which airs in eps of 90 minutes, isn’t a “character-driven show” but is very much “plot driven.” “In earlier drafts we had too much plot,” he added. “A lot of the books are 500, 600 or 700 pages but you shouldn’t really bring all of that into 88 minutes.”
Lund was speaking at Seriencamp after Halo showrunner Steven Kane. The fest runs until tomorrow.
