Netflix meets Sweden’s Unlikely Murderer

L-R: Charlotte Brändström, Robert Gustafsson and Eva Melander

Global streaming giant Netflix has commissioned an original Swedish drama series based on Thomas Pattersson’s 2018 novel The Unlikely Murderer.

The book is a fictional interpretation of how Stig Engström, the graphic designer who was named as the probable murderer of Sweden prime minister Olof Palme, managed to elude justice right up to his death through a combination of audacity, luck and a perplexed police force.

Netflix has greenlit a five-part limited series that will star comedian and actor Robert Gustafsson (The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window & Disappeared) as Engström. Eva Melander, Mikael Persbrandt and Peter Andersson will also star.

The scriptwriters are Wilhelm Behrman and Niklas Rockström (Caliphate, Before We Die), while Charlotte Brändström (The Witcher, Jupiter’s Legacy) is the conceptual director.

The Swedish-language series will launch in 2021 and is being produced by FLX, the production company behind Netflix originals Quicksand and Love & Anarchy.

Tesha Crawford, director of Nordic original series at Netflix, said: ”This gripping and challenging case has intrigued people both in Sweden as well as in the rest of the world for more than 34 years. We are therefore very excited to bring Thomas Pettersson’s book to life, together with our long-term partners FLX.

“With Charlotte as the conceptual director and Wilhelm and Niklas writing, we have a really strong creative team and I can’t wait to introduce this Swedish series to the world.”