''Three Pines'' is a mystery television series starring Alfred Molina based on the novel series by

Louise Penny Louise Penny is a Canadian author of mystery novels set in the Canadian province of Quebec centred on the work of francophone Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of the Sûreté du Québec. Penny's first career was as a radio broadcaster for the Can ...

, centered on

Chief Inspector Armand Gamache Chief Inspector Armand Gamache is the main character in a series of mystery novels written by Canadian author Louise Penny. The series is set around the life of Chief Inspector Armand Gamache of Sûreté du Québec, the provincial police force fo ...

. It premiered on

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, streaming and Renting, rental service of Amazon (c ...

on 2 December 2022 with four murder mysteries, each spanning two episodes. In March 2023, the series was canceled after one season.

Premise

of the Sûreté du Québec police force sees things that others do not: the light between the cracks, the mythic in the mundane, and the evil in the seemingly ordinary. He investigates a series of murders in Three Pines, an idyllic village in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, Canada, and he discovers long-buried secrets while facing ghosts of his own. Unlike the books, the series includes a secondary storyline throughout the season, with Gamache investigating the disappearance of a young woman.

Cast

Main

* Alfred Molina as

Rossif Sutherland Rossif Sutherland (born September 25, 1978) is a Canadian actor. He, along with his brothers Angus and Roeg and half-brother Kiefer, are the sons of Donald Sutherland. Early life and education Sutherland was born in Vancouver, but lived in P ...

as Jean-Guy Beauvoir *

Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers Elle-Máijá Apiniskim Tailfeathers (born in 1986) is a Blackfoot and Sámi filmmaker, actor, and producer from the Kainai First Nation in Canada. She has won several accolades for her film work, including multiple Canadian Screen Awards. Bor ...

as Isabelle Lacoste *

Tantoo Cardinal Tantoo Cardinal CM (born Rose Marie Cardinal; July 20, 1950) is a Canadian actress of Cree and Métis heritage. In 2009, she was made a member of the Order of Canada "for her contributions to the growth and development of Aboriginal performing ar ...

as Bea Mayer *

Clare Coulter Clare Coulter (born 1942) is a Canadian actress."Coulter, Clare"
''Canadian Theatre Ency ...

as Ruth Zardo * Sarah Booth as Yvette Nichol * Anna Tierney as Clara Morrow * Roberta Battaglia as Crie

Recurring

* Julian Bailey as Peter Morrow * Frédéric-Antoine Guimond as Olivier Brule * Pierre Simpson as Gabri Dubeau * Tamara Brown as Myrna Landers *

Patricia Summersett Patricia Summersett (born March 15, 1982) is a Canadian actress, best known for voicing Princess Zelda in '' The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild'' and '' Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity''. Life and career Summersett has appeared in the Darre ...

as Angela Blake *

Marie-France Lambert Marie-France is a French feminine given name. Notable people with the name include: * Marie-France (actress) (born 1943), French actress * Marie-France Bazzo, Canadian broadcaster * Marie-France Beaufils (born 1946), member of the Senate of France ...

as Gamache's wife Reine-Marie * Frank Schorpion * Marcel Jeannin *

Georgina Lightning Georgina Lightning is a First Nations film director, screenwriter, and actress. Biography Born in Edmonton, Alberta, she is an enrolled member of the Samson Cree Nation. She was raised off-reserve, near the Samson community in Edmonton, Alberta ...

Crystle Lightning Crystle Lea Lightning (born February 5, 1981) is a Canadian-American film actress, musician, DJ, and hip-hop MC. Early life Lightning holds dual citizenship with the United States and Canada. She is the daughter of director and actress Georgina L ...

* Isabel Deroy-Olson *

Anna Lambe Anna Lambe (born 25 September 2000) is a Canadian Inuk actress from Iqaluit, Nunavut. She is most noted for her debut role as Spring in the 2018 film ''The Grizzlies'', for which she received a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Supporting ...

as Blue Two-Rivers * Marie-Josée Bélanger * Mylène Dinh-Robic as Sandra Morrow *

Laurence Leboeuf Laurence Charlotte Leboeuf (born December 13, 1985) is a Canadian actress. Biography Leboeuf was born on December 13, 1985 in Montreal, Quebec. She went to École Notre-Dame-de-Grâce for elementary and later on, she went to Villa Maria for hig ...

as Julia Morrow

Episodes

Production

On 21 May 2020, it was announced that

Left Bank Pictures Left Bank Pictures (stylized as LEFT BANK Pictures) is a British film and television production company. It was formed in 2007 and was the first British media company to receive investment from BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC. Lef ...

had optioned the 18-book novel series by

, which centres on

, with

in final negotiations to order the project to series.

Emilia di Girolamo Emilia di Girolamo is a British television screenwriter and published author. Di Girolamo has also written for ''The Guardian'' newspaper and blog. Early life Di Girolamo got a First in Drama and a PhD in the rehabilitation of offenders using dra ...

was attached as

head writer A head writer is a person who oversees the team of writers on a television or radio series. The title is common in the soap opera genre, as well as with sketch comedies and talk shows that feature monologues and comedy skits. In fictional comedy o ...

, and Sam Donovan was announced as the lead director, directing four episodes. Indigenous Mohawk director

Tracey Deer Tracey Penelope ''Tekahentakwa'' Deer (born February 28, 1978, Mohawk nation, Mohawk) is a screenwriter, film director and newspaper publisher based in Kahnawake, Quebec. Deer has written and directed several award-winning documentaries for Rezol ...

is a series consultant and directed two episodes. On 2 September 2021, it was announced that Alfred Molina was cast in the lead role of Gamache.

Clare Coulter Clare Coulter (born 1942) is a Canadian actress."Coulter, Clare"
''Canadian Theatre Ency ...

, Sarah Booth, and Anna Tierney were also cast in main roles.

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...

was completed between August and December 2021. Filming took place over five five-week periods in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

and rural

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, specifically in the

Eastern Townships The Eastern Townships (french: Cantons de l'Est) is an historical administrative region in southeastern Quebec, Canada. It lies between the St. Lawrence Lowlands and the American border, and extends from Granby in the southwest, to Drummondv ...

, the region of Quebec where the novels take place and original author Penny resides. Specifically, outdoor scenes in the village are filmed in Saint-Armand. The soundtrack includes music from

Elisapie Elisapie Isaac (also known simply as Elisapie; syllabics: ) is a Canadian Inuk musician, broadcaster, documentary filmmaker, and activist. She spent her childhood in Salluit, Nunavik, Quebec, and moved to Montreal in 1999 to pursue communicati ...

, The Bearhead Sisters, Chloé Stafler, and

Riit Riit (ᕇᑦ) is the stage name of Rita Claire Mike-Murphy, a Canadian Inuk musician and television personality from Pangnirtung, Nunavut who is most noted as the host of APTN's children's series '' Anaana's Tent''.

. On 13 March 2023, it was announced that the series was canceled after one season.

Release

On 1 November 2022, Amazon Studios announced the premiere date and official trailer of ''Three Pines''. With eight one-hour episodes in total, the first two episodes premiered on 2 December 2022, with two new episodes released each week until the finale on 23 December. Initially, the series was set to air only in certain countries: the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Greenland.

Reception

As of 4 December 2022, after the first two episodes had begun streaming, the score on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

was 78% based on reviews from 9 critics. Chase Hutchinson of Collider praised Alfred Molina's performance as Inspector Gamache, rating the series a B and wrote, "It is in its more melancholic and macabre moments that ''Three Pines'' stumbles upon something more sinister that elevates it a bit beyond a standard mystery tale." Brian Tallerico of

RogerEbert.com ''RogerEbert.com'' is an American film review website that archives reviews written by film critic Roger Ebert for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' and also shares other critics' reviews and essays. The website, underwritten by the ''Chicago Sun-Times' ...

called it "a collection of intelligent two-hour mysteries that fans of

Agatha Christie Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictiona ...

or even

Columbo ''Columbo'' () is an American crime drama television series starring Peter Falk as Lieutenant Columbo, a homicide detective with the Los Angeles Police Department. After two pilot episodes in 1968 and 1971, the show originally aired on NBC f ...

should watch." Amber Dowling of '' Variety'' gave it a positive review and concluded "For now, this short-but-sweet adaptation offers a sweeping cinematic taste of cultures and stories that are deserving of the global platform Prime Video offers, all while doing justice to the best-selling novels on which they’re based."

References

External links

* {{Amazon Video original series 2020s British crime drama television series 2020s British mystery television series 2020s Canadian crime drama television series 2022 British television series debuts 2022 British television series endings 2022 Canadian television series debuts 2022 Canadian television series endings Amazon Prime Video original programming British mystery television series Canadian mystery television series English-language television shows French-language television shows Television series by Amazon Studios Television series by Left Bank Pictures Television series by Sony Pictures Television Television shows based on Canadian novels Television shows filmed in Montreal Television shows set in Quebec