Those Who Kill (2019 TV Series)

''Those Who Kill'' (), distributed as ''Darkness: Those Who Kill'' () in some regions, is a Danish crime thriller television series created by and produced by Miso Film and Viaplay/Nordic Entertainment Group. It was released on Viaplay in the Nordic countries on 1 March 2019 and has since been broadcast/streamed in several other countries. The series revolves around criminal profiler Louise Bergstein's ( Natalie Madueño) attempts to link unsolved murders. The series is a reboot of the crime thriller of the same name that was created by Elsebeth Egholm and aired on TV 2 in 2011.

Madueño reprises her role as Louise across three further seasons. The second season (2021) was distributed as ''Blinded: Those Who Kill'' in some regions. It has Helle Fagralid joining the cast as Karina Hørup, the lead detective and Tobias Santelmann as sawmill worker, Peter Vinge. The third season (2023) is also known as ''Lost: Those Who Kill'', which introduces Simon Sears as senior detective Frederik Havgaard. It features Thit Aaberg as Maria Jepsen, whose mother Therese is killed. The fourth season (2024) has Sears reprising his role of Frederik, who becomes Louise's love interest, the series is referred to as ''Justice: Those Who Kill'' in some markets. Dag Malmberg joins the cast as Gunnar Nymark, a Swedish criminal profiler consulted by Louise.

Plot

Season 1

After spending six months unsuccessfully trying to find 17-year-old Julie Vinding (Alvilda Lyneborg Lassen), who went missing on her way home from a party in a Copenhagen suburb, detective Jan Michelson (Kenneth M. Christensen) is taken off the case by his superiors who believe the girl is dead. Michelson continues to work on the case in his spare time and discovers the disappearance of Natasha, another 17-year old blonde girl, ten years earlier. He quickly finds Natasha's body in a lake and is re-instated on the case. Michelson's boss MT (Peter Mygind) brings in criminal profiler Louise Bergstein ( Natalie Madueño) to assist in the investigation. When a third blonde girl, hotel worker Emma Holst (Tessa Hoder), is kidnapped, the investigators discover that they may be hunting a serial killer.

Season 2

After returning to Funen to see her mother's friend Alice Ejbye (Solbjørg Højfeldt), Bergstein is asked by Ejbye, who has terminal cancer, to investigate the unsolved murder of her 18-year-old son Markus Ejbye (Vilmer Trier Brøgger) five years earlier. Bergstein soon finds similarities to unsolved murders of two other young men on the island, Kasper Larsen (Téo Lepetit) and Ricky Hansen (Peter Zandersen), which also occurred five years earlier. When a fifth young man, William Fjeldby (Oscar Dyekjær Giese), a friend of Markus Ejbye, is murdered in similar circumstances, she teams up with Karina Hørup (Helle Fagralid), the lead detective on the cases, to track down a serial killer who has resumed killing after a five-year hiatus.

Cast and characters

Main cast
* Natalie Madueño as Louise Bergstein: criminal profiler, women's crisis centre therapist. Season 2: dating David, starts Alice's private investigation, police consultant, separated from David. Season 3: assists Frederik in double murder case; moves to Aarhus, child psychologist, assists in disabled persons' death investigations. Season 4: delivers profiling classes at police academy, assists in gang-related murders
* Simon Sears as Frederik Havgaard: North Zealand senior detective, Karl's father, divorced from Anna, relocated to Aarhus. Becomes head of Copenhagen Homicide Unit (seasons 3–4)
* Tobias Santelmann as Peter Vinge: Norwegian-born, sawmill worker, Johannes' father (season 2, guest: season 3)

Season 1 (2019) ''Darkness: Those Who Kill''

Main cast
* as Jan Michelsen: Greve police senior detective, investigates Julie's disappearance, Annemarie's separated husband
* as Stine Velin: car rental attendant
* as Anders Kjeldsen: sailor, janitor, odd-jobs man, Stine's boyfriend
* Peter Mygind as Jens Møller-Thomsen "MT": police inspector, Jan's immediate boss, Louise's colleague
* as Dennis Højbjerg: police detective, Jan's colleague
* as Emma Holst: hotel employee, missing woman
* as Gitte Hermansen: police detective, Jan's colleague

Recurring cast
* as Bente Velin: Stine's mother
* Maibritt Saerens as Anette Karlslund: police chief, MT's boss
* Peter Plaugborg as Mikkel Velin: Stine's brother
* Frieda Krøgholt as Stine Velin, 16 år (English: 16 year-old): runs away from home, met Anders
* Camilla Lau as Yasmin: Louise's crisis centre client, beaten by best friend
* Alvilda Lyneborg Lassen as Julie Vinding: missing woman
* Ida Hupfeld as Amanda: Louise's client, raped by brother's friend
* Rosa Skotte Espersen as Fanny: Louise's client, raped by ex-boyfriend
* as Ole Velin: Stine's father
* as Camilla: Mikkel's wife
* Malene Beltoft Olsen as Sisse Vestergaard: karate instructor, Emma's friend
* Katinka Evers-Jahnsen as Olivia: Mikkel's daughter
* Pernille Andersen as Annemarie: Jan's separated wife, has new boyfriend
* Anders Khayat as Anders Kjeldsen, 18 år (English: 18 year-old): released from juvenile home, meets Stine
* Josephine Raahauge as Retsmediciner (English: Coroner): examines corpses during Jan's cases
* as Murad: forensic analyst
* as Karen
* Sonny Lindberg as Rasmus Vinding: Julie's older brother

Season 2 (2021) ''Blinded: Those Who Kill''

Main cast
* Helle Fagralid as Karina Hørup: Odense senior police detective; investigates Markus' death
* as Torben Vissinge: police detective
* Jens Andersen as Søren Dedenroth: police detective
* Louis Næss-Schmidt as Johannes Zelinsky Vinge: Peter and Masja's son
* Solbjørg Højfeldt as Alice Ejbye: retired judge, Markus' mother, has terminal brain tumour, Louise's friend

Recurring cast
* Henrik Prip as Leif Halborg: sawmill owner, Peter's boss
* Josephine Park as Masja Zelinsky: Singapore-based property developer, Peter's wife, Johannes' mother, divorcing Peter
* Rosalinde Mynster as Illona Larsen: pharmacist's cashier, Kasper's sister
* Peder Thomas Pedersen as Bo Hørup: Karina's husband
* Oscar Dyekjær Giese as William Fjeldby: construction company's deputy chairman, Gorm's son, Markus' classmate
* Vilmer Trier Brøgger as Markus Ejbye: restaurant dishwasher, high-achieving secondary school graduate, Alice's 18-year-old son
* Alfred Fristrup Villadsen as Elliot Berthelsen: Johannes' classmate
* Henrik Vestergaard as Elliots far (English: Elliot's father)
* Téo Lepetit as Kasper Larsen: realtor, Illona's brother

Season 3 (2023) ''Lost: Those Who Kill''

Main cast
* Thit Aaberg as Maria Jepsen / Maria Bech: Therese's 19-year-old daughter, Bjørn's sister, heavily pregnant, has baby, Sebastian. After Bjørn's death, she changed her last name. Has boyfriend, Ulrik
* Alex Høgh Andersen as Bjørn Jepsen: Therese's 23-year-old son
* as Jon Simonsen: Breidablik founder
* Laura Bro as Anja Müller: Maria's counsellor
* Clara Rosager as Alberte Hvilsted: Herning resident home carer for disabled clients, Frej's mother

Recurring cast
* Ene Øster Bendtsen as Margit: Breidablik farmer, Bjørn's co-worker
* as Jens Bjerg: Aalborg police detective
* William Halken as Bertram Beier: Aarhus police detective, Frederik's new partner
* Afshin Firouzi as Adnan Amani: North Zealand police detective
* as Klaus Bergstein: retiring doctor, Louise's father

Season 4 (2024) ''Justice: Those Who Kill''

Main cast
* Dag Malmberg as Gunnar Nymark: Swedish criminal profiler, lecturer
* Cyron Melville as Jacob Østergaard: police detective on Frederik's homicide squad
* Maria Cordsen as Lea: police detective on Frederik's squad
* Rasmus Hammerich as Bjarke Møller: police investigator (Gang Unit)
* Besir Zeciri as Kim Jensen/Erichsen: Legion-5 (L5) gang member, Melissa's partner
* Juli Mustaniemi as My Olsson: Melissa's daughter
* Kajsa Ernst as Lena Nymark: Gunnar's wife, Karin's mother

Regular cast
* Julia Ragnarsson as Melissa Olsson: petrol station attendant, Kim's partner, My's mother
* Christoffer Hvidberg Rønje as Jimmy Sørensen: Legion-5 hanger-on, Kim's friend
* Carl Løber Roliggaard as Karl Havgaard: Anna and Frederik's son
* as Robin Smith: Legion-5 gang leader
* Clint Ruben as Patrick Antonsen: Legion-5 gang second-in-charge, released homicide prisoner
* Maria Rich as Pernille Bjerre: defence attorney
* Rikke Louise Andersson as Linda Jensen: Kim's estranged mother, Henrik's wife

Release

Season 1 was released in the Nordic countries on the Viaplay streaming service on 1 March 2019. NPO 3 started broadcasting season 1 in the Netherlands on 20 April 2019. In the UK BBC Four started broadcasting season 1 as ''Darkness: Those Who Kill'' on 31 August 2019. In Australia season 1 premiered on SBS On Demand on 18 December 2019. In Germany it started streaming as ''Darkness – Schatten der Vergangenheit'' on the Joyn Plus+ service on 26 November 2019. In Spain Filmin started streaming season 1 as ''Darkness: La Huella del Crimen'' on 3 March 2020. Arte broadcast season 1 in September 2020 as ''Le Tueur de l'Ombre'' in France and ''Darkness – Schatten der Vergangenheit'' in Germany.

Season 2 started streaming on Viaplay on 28 March 2021. It was broadcast on BBC Four in the UK in May as ''Blinded: Those Who Kill'' and streamed on Acorn TV in the US and Joyn Plus+ in Germany.

Season 3 was broadcast on BBC Four in the UK as ''Lost: Those Who Kill'', starting on 8 April 2023.

Season 4 was broadcast on BBC Four in the UK as ''Justice: Those Who Kill'', starting on 26 October 2024.

Reception

The series was nominated for the Best TV Series (Årets tv-serie) award at the Danish Film Academy's 2020 Robert Awards. Tessa Hoder was nominated for the Best Danish Actor (Årets danske skuespiller) award at TV 2 Zulu's 2020 Zulu Awards.

Episode guide

Season one

Season two

Season three

Season four

References

External links

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* {{BBC programme, m0023z7g

2010s Danish television series
2019 Danish television series debuts
Danish crime television series
Danish drama television series
Danish-language television shows
Television shows set in Denmark