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Ballard is a police procedural crime drama series developed by Michael Alaimo and Kendall Sherwood. Based on Michael Connelly‘s Renée Ballard novel series, the Prime Video series serves as a spin-off to Amazon Freevee’s Bosch: Legacy series. It follows LAPD Detective Renée Ballard as she is put in charge of a cold case unit and discovers an unsolved serial killer case. Ballard stars Maggie Q, Courtney Taylor, Michael Mosley, Rebecca Field, Victoria Moroles, Amy Hill, and John Carroll Lynch. So, if you loved the investigative drama, complex mystery, and compelling characters in Ballard, here are some similar shows you should check out next.

Dept Q. (Netflix) Credit – Netflix

Dept Q. is a Scottish crime thriller drama series developed by Scott Frank and Chandni Lakhani. Based on the Department Q book series by author Jussi Adler-Olsen, the Netflix series follows Carl Mørck,...

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Netflix is the biggest streaming platform in the world, and it can be easily said that it has the best content library when it comes to TV shows and movies. In this article, we are going to list the best of the best shows currently available on the streaming service. We avoided popular titles like Love is Blind and Too Hot To Handle as we are not going to include reality TV shows in this list. Check out the best TV shows you can watch right now on Netflix below.

Mr. Robot Credit – USA Network

Mr. Robot is a psychological thriller drama series created by Sam Esmail. The USA Network series follows Elliot Alderson, a cybersecurity engineer and vigilante hacker who is recruited into a hacker group trying to bring down the most powerful individuals in the world,...

When Detective Carl Morck (Matthew Goode) takes on management of a newly established cold-case unit in Scotland, he isn’t planning on solving any cases. The Department Q of the new show’s title is a PR opportunity for the embattled Edinburgh police department — and its unlikely leader, Morck, is a brash cop recovering in hectic fashion from a brutal shooting.

For Constable Moira Jacobson (Kate Dickie), the job is essentially a babysitting gig — but fate has other plans for Carl Morck. “He goes down there and there’s a case from four years ago,” Goode tells Tudum. “Someone’s fallen off a ferry four years previously, and they never really got to figure out why or how it was caused.”

That someone is Merritt Lingard (Chloe Pirrie), a local solicitor whose story is intercut with the beginning of Morck’s investigation in the show’s first episode. Soon, Morck...

With Netflix series Dept Q., Matthew Goode stars as Dci Carl Morck, a curmudgeonly cop afflicted by Ptsd and almost Sherlock-level powers of deduction. Based on the novels by Jussi Adler-Olsen, which have also been made into a series of Danish-language films, the Netflix series is developed by and partially directed by Scott Frank, of The Queen’s Gambit fame. Frank moves the action to Scotland, with Goode starring as the English outsider alongside such Scottish favorites as Kelly Macdonald, Chloe Pirrie, Mark Bonnar, Shirley Henderson and Kate Dickie.

As Morck reels from an incident that almost killed him and paralyzed his colleague Di Hardy (Jamie Sives) he finds himself sidelined to a ‘lost cause’ basement cold case unit with his sidekicks Akram (Alexei Manvelov) and Rose (Leah Birne). Here, in a Zoom chat from his home in the U.K. with his wife and children making excellent background appearances,...

Did Netflix just throw a grenade into the Emmy race for the second year in a row?

TVLine has learned exclusively that Dept. Q, the Matthew Goode-fronted Scottish thriller that dropped May 29, just two days shy of the eligibility cutoff for this year’s Emmys, is being submitted in the Drama Series categories. The acclaimed nine-episode mystery from Queen’s Gambit auteur Scott Frank enters a crowded field that includes Severance, The Pitt, Andor, The White Lotus, The Last of Us and Netflix’s own The Diplomat.

More from TVLineThe Diplomat: Bradley Whitford Enters the Political Fray in a...

Crime shows have always been popular, and Netflix has found success with numerous titles in the genre. Its latest addition is just one of them.

The Scottish crime series Dept. Qpremiered on the streaming platform on May 29. The series starsWatchmen's Matthew Goode in the leading role as an emotionally scarred detective who gets assigned as the head of a cold case department. Following the show's release, Dept. Q received positive reviews, but it failed to debut at number one, per Tudum, and settled for third place.

For the week between May 26 and June 1, Dept. Q Season 1 debuted with 6 million views and 49.3 million hours viewed. The new series only had three full days to leave its mark on Netflix's global Top 10, and it had an encouraging opening.

Dept. Q debuted in the Top 10 in 72 countries, but didn't get a chance at the much-coveted number one spot in any territory in the first week.

Based on writer Jussi Adler-Olsen’s book series by the same name, Netflix’s “Dept Q” is a taut thriller propelled by a layered mystery, timely humor, and an eclectically charming cast. Created by Scott Frank, the nine-episode British crime thriller grips your attention early and plays with it with some clever ruses. With Matthew Goode’s charismatically jaded Carl Morck (like Hugh Laurie’s House MD), Alexej Manvelov’s enigmatic Akram, and Leah Byrne’s sharply vibrant Rose, we have a team of investigators we will not mind tuning in to for the foreseeable future. A trifecta we have not seen since the cult-ish “Mindhunter.”

So, the only concern for the show is whether Netflix execs will find it in their heart to allow it to grow into a multi-season series. As soon as possible. Meanwhile, let us discuss the show’s ending and the various subplots’ conclusions.

Dept.

Netflix's new crime thriller from The Queen's Gambit creator debuts with an impressive Rotten Tomatoes score, revealing just how worth watching it is. Crime thrillers have been a staple of Netflix for quite some time, the platform putting out many that have grown popular in recent years. This includes 2024's mystery thriller Fool Me Once, which quickly became one of the Top 10 most-watched English language shows on the platform. More recently was the positively-reviewed drama Adolescence, whose popularity and important messages led to the series becoming a core part of UK education.

However, one recent crime thriller was co-created by Scott Frank, best known for the 2020 miniseries The Queen's Gambit. A far cry from crime drama, the series is a coming-of-age period piece starring Anya Taylor-Joy as Beth Harmon, a competitive chess player. The Queen's Gambit ended up becoming a major release for Netflix, winning multiple Golden Globes and Emmys,...

“Dept. Q” is the latest gritty crime drama to land on Netflix, and it has a strong cast.

The new series comes from Scott Frank, whose past work at the streamer includes “The Queen’s Gambit” and “Godless.” His new show follows a guilt-riddled cop who gets sucked up in a cold case. The synopsis reads:

“Carl, a former top-rated detective, is wracked with guilt following an attack that left his partner paralyzed and another policeman dead. On his return to work, Carl is assigned to a cold case that will consume his life.”

Read on for our complete “Department Q” cast and character guide.

“Dept. Q” (Netflix) Matthew Goode as Carl Morck

Matthew Goode plays Detective Chief Inspector Carl Morck, who’s still recovering from a traumatic event and has been tasked with heading up a cold cases unit in his Scottish police department.

Goode is most known for playing...

Why Dept. Q Is Netflix’s Best New Crime Drama (Photo Credit – Netflix)

With so many films and shows from around the world arriving every week on various streaming platforms, it’s nearly impossible to keep up with them all, let alone watch every one of them. To help solve this constant what-to-watch dilemma, we handpick underrated gems that often fly under the radar. One such lesser-known series is Dept. Q, which recently started streaming on Netflix. Read on to find out more about it and why it’s a must-watch for crime thriller fans.

Dept. Q – Plot & Cast

Based on the Danish Nordic noir crime novels by Jussi Adler-Olsen, the series has been created by Oscar-nominee Scott Frank (The Queen’s Gambit) and Chandni Lakhani (Dublin Murders). The show’s plot follows the story of Dci Carl Morck (played by Matthew Goode), a brilliant but brash detective sidelined after an unfortunate incident.

Matthew Goode is ready — and a little nervous — to unleash Dept. Q on the world.

“I’m on eggshells at the moment,” the English actor tells The Hollywood Reporter about his new Scotland-set police thriller premiering on Netflix Thursday, May 29. “I don’t know how people will react to it.”

Luckily, Goode, star of Downton Abbey, The Crown and The Imitation Game, to name a few, has Scott Frank at the helm. Screenwriter-turned-director Frank, best known to viewers as the creator of Anya Taylor-Joy’s wildly popular 2020 miniseries The Queen’s Gambit, is turning his attention to the adaptation of Jussi Adler-Olson’s Nordic crime noir novels.

“The Queen’s Gambit is special, and that’s him, that’s his mind, that’s his ability, that’s his direction, his authority,” Goode gushes about Dept. Q mastermind Frank. “And he’s only getting more authoritative and more brilliant. He’s like the second coming of Sidney Lumet.

Netflix's monster-hunting fantasy show The Witcher is set in a gritty fantasy world called the Continent, but soon it will be adding a former denizen of Westeros to its ranks. Kate Dickie, the actor who played Lysa Arryn in four seasons of Game of Thrones, will appear in The Witcher's fifth and final season. This hasn't been officially announced yet by Netflix, but since it comes via Redanian Intelligence, a reliable scoop site for all things Witcher-related, so I'm inclined to believe it.

The Witcher has already filmed its fourth season, which is expected to premiere sometime in 2025. It's now rolling full steam ahead onto its fifth, which is in the thick of filming right now. These final two seasons will feature Liam Hemsworth in the role of Geralt of Rivia, and will cap off the story told in Andrzej Sapkowski's Witcher Saga books.

According to Ri's sources,...

Plot: Dci Carl Morck is a brilliant cop but a terrible colleague. His razor-sharp sarcasm has made him no friends in Edinburgh police. After a shooting that leaves a young pc dead, and his partner paralysed, he finds himself exiled to the basement and the sole member of Department Q; a newly formed cold case unit. The department is a PR stunt, there to distract the public from the failures of an under-resourced, failing police force that is glad to see the back of him. But more by accident than design, Carl starts to build a gang of waifs and strays who have everything to prove. So, when the stone-cold trail of a prominent civil servant who disappeared several years ago starts to heat up, Carl is back doing what he does best – rattling cages and refusing to take no for an answer.

Review: Scott Frank earned himself a golden...

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Dept. Q is a British mystery crime thriller drama series created by Scott Frank and Chandni Lakhani. Based on the Danish Nordic noir crime novel, Department Q by author Jussi Adler-Olsen, the Netflix series is set in Edinburgh and it follows the always irritated former top-rated detective Carl Morck, who returns to his job after a tragic incident. He is soon tasked with forming a brand new department to solve cold cases, and their first case is a high-profile missing case. Dept. Q stars Matthew Goode, Kelly Macdonald, Chloe Pirrie, Alexej Manvelov, Leah Byrne, Mark Bonnar, Jamie Sives, Shirley Henderson, and Kate Dickie. So, if you loved the thrilling mystery, intense drama, and compelling characters in Dept. Q, here are some similar shows you should check out next.

Luther Credit – BBC One

Luther is a British psychological crime...

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CinemaBlind’s Review – 95%

If you loved the hilarious dark comedy of Slow Horses and the thrilling mystery crime drama of Luther, then Netflix’s new British crime thriller drama series, Dept. Q is just for you, but I have one big problem, and that is that I fear Netflix will cancel it.

Based on the Danish Nordic noir crime thriller novel series, Department Q by author Jussi Adler-Olsen. Created by Scott Frank, the Netflix series is set in Edinburgh, and it follows former top-rated detective Carl Morck, who returns to his job after a tragic incident that left his best friend and partner paralyzed and one police officer dead. When he returns, he is tasked with forming a new department that will focus on solving cold cases.

Before I go on about how much I love this series,...

Nobody likes Carl Morck — mostly because he makes it clear early and often how little he likes them. Everything and everyone is an opportunity to complain. He’s an English cop stuck working in Scotland because of a marriage that’s long over. He’s much smarter than everyone else in his department, with the possible exception of his partner Hardy — and even thoughts of Hardy make him angry, because the series opens with both of them being shot by an unknown criminal, leaving Carl with a nasty scar on...

We're so excited for an all-new Matthew Goode series, and this time the actor is dipping his toes into the crime drama genre. Dept. Q arrives very soon, and we've got all the watch details for you so you don't miss out. Plus, keep reading for what the upcoming series is all about.

Let the countdown begin because it's not long now! Dept. Q premieres Thursday, May 29, 2025 onNetflix. If you're on the streamer often, then you know that the release time for the streaming service's new releases is always at 12 a.m. Pt / 3 a.m. Et. And this time, it's no different. The British crime thriller is also available in international territories where Netflix content is available. Check out the U.S. release times, as well as the global ones as well below.

Justin Downing/Netflix What is Dept. Q starring Matthew Goode about?

As seen in the trailer, it's...

Ham Yard Hotel rolled out the red carpet for the latest Scott Frank production this evening, with the UK Premiere of Netflix’s Dept Q. The event was attended by Matthew Goode, Chloe Pirrie, Kate Dickie, Alexej Mavelov, Leah Byrne, Jamie Sives and HeyUGuys favourite Scott Frank himself.

Dept. Q will be released on the 29th of May, 2025 on Netflix. David Sztypuljak and Linda Marric were on the red carpet, here are their interviews.

Dept. Q Premiere Interviews

Plot:

Dci Carl Morck is a brilliant cop but a terrible colleague. His razor-sharp sarcasm has made him no friends in Edinburgh Police. After a shooting that leaves a young PC dead, and his partner paralysed, he finds himself exiled to the basement and the sole member of Dept. Q; a newly formed cold case unit. The department is a PR stunt, there to distract the public from the failures of an under-resourced,...

Watchmen actor Matthew Goode has a brand-new Netflix show. After starring in Paramount+'s The Offer, Goode will lead the upcoming British thriller series Dept. Q.

The upcoming crime series follows Dci Carl Morck (Goode), a former top-rated detective who experienced a traumatic event that made him a terrible colleague. He is exiled to the basement as the sole member of "Department Q," a newly formed cold-case unit. Dept. Q has just debuted the first trailer ahead of the show's release on May 29.

Dept. Q's official logline reads, "Former top-rated detective Carl Morck tackles a cold case while turning an Edinburgh basement office space into a well-oiled machine full of misfit officers dedicated to cracking whatever seemingly impossible cases come across their desks." Dept. Q is based on the book series of the same name by Danish author Jussi Adler-Olsen, which features 10 novels.

"There was just something about it," says...

Netflix has released a first look at the British crime thriller series Dept. Q, from Scott Frank (The Queen’s Gambit) and starring Matthew Goode. The nine-episode series will premiere on May 29, 2025.

In the series, Dci Carl Morck is a brilliant cop but a terrible colleague. His razor-sharp sarcasm has made him no friends in the Edinburgh police. After a shooting that leaves a young pc dead, and his partner paralysed, he finds himself exiled to the basement and the sole member of Department Q, a newly formed cold case unit.

The department is a PR stunt, there to distract the public from the failures of an under-resourced, failing police force that is glad to see the back of him. But more by accident than design, Carl starts to build a gang of waifs and strays who have everything to prove.

So, when the stone-cold trail of a prominent civil servant...

Matthew Goode is ready to rattle some cages in the official trailer for Dept. Q. In less than one month, Netflix will debut the new detective series from The Queen's Gambit creator Scott Frank that features the A Discovery of Witches star as Dci Carl Morck, who's described as "a brilliant cop, but a terrible colleague" with no allies in the Edinburgh police and a lot of guilt on his conscience. A shooting that killed a young officer and paralyzed his partner leaves him feeling responsible, and matters only get worse when his bosses "promote" him to the head of a new department dedicated to cold cases. However, the new basement office is just a PR front to distract an unsatisfied public from their failures. Yet, the footage sees him rising to the occasion and finding new energy with a new team of misfits, making real strides on a long-unsolved case.

When it comes to the world of horror, the genre has allowed filmmakers to display their creativity by pushing the norms of traditional filmmaking. No less than a never-ending canvas and a boundless paint palette, filmmakers in the horror genre have the chance to go to the depths of human fear in whatever way they deem fit. Robert Eggers is one filmmaker who has utilized this space with perfection and creativity like no other.

Filmmaker and screenwriter Robert Eggers | Credit: Q with Tom Power / YouTube

A visionary, his films are not merely stories but highly immersive and engaging experiences that are crafted with an unparalleled dedication to detail and atmosphere. His works, although just 4 now till now, are celebrated for their historical themes, unsettling narratives, and an ability to evoke creeping dread that often lasts longer than the screen time of the film.

Although he has been in the industry for a long time,...

This article contains a discussion of sexual assault.

A lot of people die on "Game of Thrones." No, really; the Washington Post actually tracked all of the show's deaths and figured out that 6,887 characters, both named and unnamed, perish throughout the HBO series (which is based on George R.R. Martin's equally bloody novel series "A Song of Ice and Fire"). Apparently, showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss played favorites just a bit when it came to their 8-season series that massacred heroes and villains in equal measure. In a March 2024 interview with The Hollywood Reporter to promote their Netflix series "3 Body Problem," Benioff and Weiss said there were two characters they just loved killing: Jack Gleeson's King Joffrey Baratheon and Iwan Rheon's dastardly bastard-turned-heir Ramsay Bolton.

"With Thrones, there was so much killing of good guys," Weiss said when asked about his favorite on-screen kills, "and...

Honey Bunch opens with Diana (Grace Glowicki) waking from a coma so deep she can’t recall her own name. Her husband, Homer (Ben Petrie), has arranged for an experimental regimen at a remote clinic—think strobing lights in a manor house that could double as a funhouse of forgotten dreams.

Mancinelli and Sims-Fewer channel the spirit of Seventies psychological horror, where every zoomed-in portrait and hushed corridor implies an unspoken threat. Adam Crosby’s lens bathes rooms in a muted haze, suggesting that reality itself might be on the treatment table.

At its center lies a trio of questions: What becomes of identity when memory unravels? Can love survive the bleaching away of shared history? And who holds the right to reconstruct a person?

The film’s premise feels almost outrageous—an ode to both experimental psychiatry and marital codependency—but it gains gravity from its philosophical underpinnings. Is...

If you were a fan of The Queen's Gambit on Netflix - the brilliant story, writing, and visionary aspects - then you'll be happy to know that the show's co-creator, Scott Frank, has another series at the streamer in store for us. And I'm definitely looking forward to it! Get ready for Dept. Q starring Matthew Goode. I mean, you had me at the lead star if I'm being honest.

Dept. Q premieres Thursday, May 29, 2025 on Netflix. The upcoming British crime thriller is based on the 10-novel series by author Jussi Adler-Olsen. There will be a total of 8 episodes. That's definitely an easy binge for us pros!

On the heels of the success of Adolescence on the streamer, this show is definitely a welcome addition. Even though the subject matter is quite different, there's just something about these British crime dramas I can't get enough of. And I think many of you are the same.

Netflix's latest gambit with Scott Frank looks to be a noir crime feast for the eyes. That is, at least, if these first look images from Dept. Q are to be believed. The latest drama series from The Queen's Gambitshowrunner is an adaptation of a popular, 10-book series of Nordic noir crime fiction by Jussi Adler-Olsen, a Danish author. And while the show may have swapped locales, moving its star Matthew Goode's Carl Morck to Edinburgh, Scotland from Denmark, it doesn't look like its lost anything else in this English-language on-screen translation.

Here's the official synopsis from Netflix:

Dci Carl Morck is a brilliant cop but a terrible colleague. His razor-sharp sarcasm has made him no friends in Edinburgh police. After a shooting that leaves a young PC dead, and his partner paralyzed, he finds himself exiled to the basement and the sole member of Department Q; a newly formed cold case unit.

Matthew Goode in ‘Dept Q’ (Photo Credit: Netflix)

Scott Frank (The Queen’s Gambit) reunites with Matthew Goode for Netflix’s new crime drama Dept Q. The series, based on Danish author Jussi Adler-Olsen’s books, will premiere on the streamer on May 29, 2025.

Goode (The Offer) stars as Detective Chief Inspector Carl Morck, Chloe Pirrie (The Game) plays Merritt Lingard, Jamie Sives (Guilt) is Detective Chief Inspector James Hardy, Mark Bonnar (Operation Mincemeat) is Stephen Burns, and Alexej Manvelov (Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan) is Akram Salim. The cast also includes Leah Byrne (Nightsleeper) as Detective Constable Rose Dickson, Kate Dickie (Game of Thrones) as Detective Chief Superintendent Moira Jacobson, Shirley Henderson (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets) as Claire Marsh, Kelly Macdonald (No Country for Old Men) as Dr. Rachel Irving, and Tom Bulpett (Father Brown) as William Lingard.

“Dci Carl Morck is a brilliant cop but a terrible colleague.

Netflix is officially opening the doors to Dept. Q. The first images for the streamer's new crime thriller novel adaptation have been released, and they feature Emmy nominee Matthew Goode leading a cold case unit as the prickly, formerly top-rated detective Carl Morck. This series will mark a welcome return to television for the actor of The Imitation Game and Watchmen fame, coming three years after the end of his tenure on A Discovery of Witches and his appearance in the Paramount+ miniseries, The Offer. It'll also reunite him with Scott Frank — writer, director, and co-creator of The Queen's Gambit —18 years after joining forces for the helmer's star-studded feature debut, The Lookout. Together, they'll once again take to the small screen to solve murder mysteries on May 29.

Based on the series of novels of the same name by author Jussi Adler-Olsen, Dept. Q is set in Edinburgh and follows Detective...

Between 2007 and 2021, Danish author Jussi Adler-Olsen wrote ten novels in his noir crime series Department Q. Those stories have served as the basis for multiple Danish thriller films over the years, with more to come – and now, Netflix has shared a batch of first look images that give a preview of their upcoming 9-episode series Dept. Q, which stars Matthew Goode and changes the setting from Copenhagen, Denmark to Edinburgh, Scotland. Along with the unveiling of the images comes the announcement that Dept. Q is scheduled to premiere on May 29th.

Written and directed by Scott Frank, who previously created The Queen’s Gambit and Godless for Netflix, Dept. Q has the following synopsis: Dci Carl Morck is a brilliant cop but a terrible colleague. His razor-sharp sarcasm has made him no friends in Edinburgh police. After a shooting that leaves a young pc dead, and his partner paralysed, he finds...

The Day of the Jackal is submitting seven actors for the Emmys.

Eddie Redmayne, who earned Golden Globe, Critics Choice, and Screen Actors Guild Awards nominations for his turn as the titular assassin, will be entered in Best Drama Actor. The Oscar and Tony winner has never been nominated for an Emmy before. Lashana Lynch, whose MI6 agent Bianca Pullman spent the whole first season chasing the Jackal, will be entered in Best Drama Actress.

Only three performers will be submitted across both supporting categories: Khalid Abdalla, four-time nominee Charles Dance, and Úrsula Corberó. Abdalla's Ulle Dag Charles was the Jackal's main target in Season 1, whose hit is ordered by Dance's financier Winthrop. Corberó plays Nuria, the Jackal's wife.

Richard Dormer, as the Jackal's gunsmith Norman Stoke, and Kate Dickie, as Norman's sister-in-law and one of Bianca's assets, will be the show's only guest submissions.

See 9 takeaways from the...

Romance for indie filmmakers Dusty Mancinelli and Madeleine Sims-Fewer blossomed in the most unexpected of places — as they shot their 2020 debut feature Violation, a relentlessly violent and gory revenge drama set in cottage-country Canada.

“After making our first film, which really dealt with trauma and was very dark, very painful to make and really delved into the dark recesses of our minds, we wanted to make something that was about love,” Sims-Fewer tells The Hollywood Reporter ahead of Honey Bunch, their sophomore feature, having its world premiere in Berlin on Feb. 18.

In their first feature, which bowed at the Toronto Film Festival, Sims-Fewer played a young woman in an unhappy marriage who, with her sister and their husbands, stays at a secluded cottage where unspoken traumas and upsetting sexual violence are gradually revealed.

But on Honey Bunch, the Canadian filmmakers deliberately toned down the dark, bloody material of their first feature.

Despite the mixed reviews that Nosferatu has received from critics and audiences, there’s no denying the fact that it’s further cemented Rober Eggers’ reputation as a director who fully comprehends visual storytelling. It was a full decade ago when audiences were first made aware of Eggers’ ability to tap into visual presentation and atmospheric tone following the release of The Witch. Taking place in New England in the 1600s, a time period rife with religious piety where the concepts of god, the devil, and paranoia of those who made a pact with the latter of these two deities permeate every aspect of human life. The Witch tapped into folklore and a fear of the unknown that exists at the forefront of the human experience.

The Witch thrives on a combination of folklore and atmosphere not seen since Amando de Ossorio's Blind Dead films. Eggers’ narrative utilizes cinematic...

Ahead of the Berlinale 2025 taking place February 13-23, they’ve unveiled their lineups for Berlinale Special, Panorama, Generation and Forum sections. Highlights include confirmation of Bong Joon Ho’s Mickey 17 alongside Ira Sachs’ Peter Hujar’s Day, Ancestral Visions of the Future from This Is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection director Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese, a documentary on the making of Shoah, a new Jacob Elordi-led series from Justin Kurzel, and more.

See the lineup below via Deadline and check back for the competition lineup next week.

Berlinale Special

Ancestral Visions of the Future

by Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese | with Siphiwe Nzima, Sobo Bernard, Zaman Mathejane, Mochesane Edwin Kotsoane, Rehauhetsoe Ernest Kotsoane

France / Lesotho / Germany / Saudi Arabia 2025

Berlinale Special | World premiere | Documentary form

A poetic allegory of the filmmaker Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese’s childhood, an ode to cinema and an inner nod to his mother. Through fragmented narratives and mythic imagery,...

Aussie filmmaker Justin Kurzel’s series adaptation of Richard Flanagan’s Booker Prize-winning novel The Narrow Road to the Deep North, starring Jacob Elordi, will screen at this year’s Berlin Film Festival.

The Narrow Road to the Deep North was among several titles added to Berlin’s lineup this morning.

The festival describes the series as a “riveting new Australian drama” about a WWII hero haunted by his past. The show will screen as a Berlinale Special Gala. Also in Specials strand is The Thing with Feathers starring Benedict Cumberbatch. The pic screens at Berlin following a debut bow at Sundance and is from filmmaker Dylan Southern. The pic is an adaption of Max Porter’s novel about a grieving father wrestling with the sudden death of his wife while also raising their young children. As previously reported, Bong Joon Ho’s Mickey 17 will also screen. Scroll down...

Spoiler Alert: Spoilers follow for The Green Knight

Quick Links What Happens in 'The Green Knight'? Was 'The Green Knight' Misunderstood?

There’s maybe never been a sharper divide between critical and popular reception than in the last couple of decades. For a myriad of reasons, some driven by politics, others by the current media environment, it’s not at all uncommon today to see viewer opinions differ sharply from critics. It happens on both ends, as shown by how the first two installments of the Star Wars sequel trilogy were critically acclaimed and… let’s just say divisive among fanboys, and how the first Joker overcame polarized reviews to become one of the highest-grossing R-rated films ever.

Yet maybe the most egregious split of all came in 2021 when indie darling David Lowery released The Green Knight, a borderline art film falsely advertised as a fantasy epic.

Robert Eggers' latest movie Nosferatu has taken critics and audiences by storm, and stands as another testament to how the American auteur has firmly established himself as one of the industry's top filmmakers. Each of Eggers' four films demonstrates his singular ability to create striking visuals and tell unique stories, typically through a folk horror lens, all with painstaking attention to period accuracy and detail. As with his other films, Nosferatu combines Eggers' vision with powerhouse performances from its entire cast to create a unique movie experience.

With four feature-length movies under his belt, it's natural to wonder where Nosferatu stacks up against Eggers' other films, each of which has been met with critical acclaim. Nosferatu's Rotten Tomatoes scores indicate that audiences are almost as glowingly receptive as critics are, which marks a change from Eggers' first three films in which the audience scores are typically far lower than the critics' scores.

The Berlin Film Festival forges a new path next year with the first year under new artistic director Tricia Tuttle, who succeeds Carlo Chatrian and brings a background as a journalist and curator to the annual German showcase. This year’s festival runs February 13-23, and also in new positions this year are Jacqueline Lyanga and Michael Stütz, both serving as co-directors of programming.

With bigger announcements to come, the Berlinale unveiled its first wave of titles across the Panorama and Berlinale Special gala lineups on Tuesday. As previously announced, Tom Tykwer’s “The Light” is opening this coming 75th edition. Filmmakers getting a boost from today’s announcement include Denis Côté, Michel Gondry, and Ira Sachs, all bringing new films to the festival.

In the Berlinale Special lineup, German director Jan-Ole Gerster debuts the neo-noir thriller “Islands,” starring Sam Riley and Stacy Martin. Per the festival synopsis, in the film,...

Michel Gondry and Ira Sachs are among the headline filmmakers set to debut new feature works within the sidebar competitions at next year’s Berlin Film Festival.

The German festival announced the pair this afternoon as part of its first crop of confirmed titles.

Gondry will screen Maya, Give Me a Title in Berlin’s Generation sidebar. The festival’s website describes the film as Gondry’s “stop-motion love letter to his daughter Maya brings to life a poetic and amusing journey that invites you to dream and laugh.”

Also set for the Generation competition is Our Wildest Days (I Agries Meres Mas) by Greek filmmaker Vasilis Kekatos who is best known for his 2019 short film The Distance Between Us and the Sky, which won the Short Film Palme d’Or at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. He also created the popular Greek series Milky Way.

Related:...

John Magaro, Kate Dickie and Jason Isaacs will be heading to the chilly streets of Berlin. The Berlin Film Festival unveiled the first gala screenings for its 2025 edition, which runs Feb. 13-23.

Islands, the new feature from German director Jan-Ole Gerster (Lara, A Coffee in Berlin), is among the gala highlights. The thriller stars British actor Sam Riley (Control, Maleficent) as a once-promising tennis professional now working as a tennis coach for holidaymakers on a resort island, filling his time with alcohol and brief affairs. Stacy Martin, Jack Farthing, and Dylan Torrell co-star.

Köln 75 from director Ido Fluk, follows the true story of Vera Brandes, teenage patron saint of the 1970s Cologne music scene, who risked everything to organize Keith Jarrett’s legendary Köln Concert, considered by many to be the greatest solo concert in music history. German actress Mala Emde play Fluk with John Magaro, Michael Chernus and Alexander Scheer co-starring.

The Day of the Jackal is off to a strong start on Peacock. The new series starring Eddie Redmayne and Lashana Lynch premiered on Thursday, Nov. 14.

If you like shows about assassins, this is definitely the show for you to watch right now. For those who don’t know, the series is based on the book of the same name by Frederick Forsyth.

We shared all the big moments moments in The Day of the Jackal episode 1 to make sure you didn’t miss anything!

The Jackal assassinates Manfred Fest

In Munich, Germany, an assassin kills Ralf, a custodian at a media building, and steals Ralf’s identity. Everything seems to be going okay on the assassin’s mission until an unsuspecting worker walks in on him attaching his silencer. He kills her, but the security guard hears. The assassin shoots everyone on the floor and chases the mark down the stairwell.

The Day of the Jackal debuts with a strong Rotten Tomatoes score. Based on the 1971 Frederick Forsyth novel of the same name, which was previously adapted into the 1973 film, the new series is set against a modern political backdrop and follows the titular British assassin and a tenacious intelligence officer who tracks him down in a thrilling game of cat-and-mouse across Europe. The show stars Eddie Redmayne and Lashana Lynch in the lead roles alongside a supporting cast that includes rsula Corber, Charles Dance, Richard Dormer, Chukwudi Iwuji, Khalid Abdalla, Eleanor Matsuura, and Kate Dickie.

Now, following the show's premiere on Peacock, Eddie Redmayne's TV remake of the 1973 thriller has debuted with a strong Rotten Tomatoes score. The Day of the Jackal has debuted to an 89% score on Rotten Tomatoes with nine reviews from critics, which could fluctuate as more come in. With fewer than 50 ratings, the show doesn't yet qualify for an audience score.

Plot: An unrivaled and highly elusive lone assassin, the Jackal, makes his living carrying out hits for the highest fee. But following his latest kill, he meets his match in a tenacious British intelligence officer who starts to track down the Jackal in a thrilling cat-and-mouse chase across Europe, leaving destruction in its wake.

Review: The Day of the Jackal is a title that resonates even if you have not seen the 1973 film or the novel it was based on. Loosely remade in 1997 as The Jackal, starring Bruce Willis and Richard Gere, the core plot of the Frederick Forsyth novel followed a master assassin attempting to kill the President of France and the investigation to stop him. While the original film was a critical and box office success, the dated subject matter has been ripe for a contemporary update. The new Sky/Peacock limited series The Day of the Jackal...

One year after Loki season 2's premiere on October 5, 2023, many moments from the MCU series are still impossible to forget. Taking place immediately after the events of 2021's Loki season 1, the second season presented new challenges for Tom Hiddleston's Loki variant as he fought with Time Variance Authority members Mobius, B-15, Casey and Ouroboros to save the McU's multiverse. Although not as fast-paced as season 1, Loki season 2 still delivered some of the most memorable moments in the McU's history.

Loki season 2 marked the titular God of Mischief's complete transition from one of the McU's most regular and sinister villains into a bona fide superhero. Many moments, such as the interrogation of Brad Wolfe, Miss Minutes' romantic revelation and Loki's final sacrifice to save the multiverse, stick out as some of the most impressive, cathartic, entertaining and haunting scenes in the MCU. The entire Loki series is considered one...

Alice Lowe’s second film as director is time travel comedy Timestalker, and the trailer for it has now landed.

Alice Lowe is not only a brilliant actor, but she’s also been behind the camera on some of the most esoteric, original British films of the last few years. From co-writing the screenplay of Sightseers with co-star Steve Oram, which was directed by Ben Wheatley and released in 2012, to her terrific 2016 directorial debut Prevenge, which she also wrote and starred as a pregnant woman who believes her unborn baby is telling her to murder all the men involved in her husband’s death.

Her next film is even more ambitious. Timestalker is a science fiction comedy romance, with a dash of time travel thrown into the mix. The synopsis reads as follows:

From the creative team behind Prevenge comes… Timestalker, a romantic comedy about the eternal humiliation that is the search for love,...

"You die so he doesn't have to... Maybe it's time to turn the tables?" Vertigo Releasing has unveiled the first official trailer for an acclaimed indie romantic comedy remix called Timestalker, made by filmmaker Alice Lowe (of the horror Prevenge before this). This film first premiered at the 2024 SXSW Film Festival, and it also played at Fantasia, Locarno, and Edinburgh this year. Follow hapless heroine Agnes through time as she repeatedly falls for the wrong guy, dies a grim death, gets reincarnated a century later, before meeting him again and starting the cycle anew. Agnes' only hope in avoiding this violent fate is by finally reaching spiritual enlightenment; but how can she ever wise up when she’s destined to be a fool for love forever and ever? Some lessons are just too hard to learn in one lifetime... Timestalker stars Alice Lowe as Agnes, Aneurin Barnard, Tanya Reynolds, Jacob Anderson,...

Exclusive: Production has wrapped on under-the-radar sophomore feature Honey Bunch from writer-directors Madeleine Sims-Fewer and Dusty Mancinelli, who made their debut with TIFF, Sundance and SXSW selection Violation. XYZ is handling sales, financing and serving as exec producer.

Rising Canadian actors Grace Glowicki (Tito) and Ben Petrie (BlackBerry) star, while Jason Isaacs (Harry Potter saga), Kate Dickie (The Witch), India Brown (Invasion) and Julian Richings (Beau Is Afraid) round out the cast.

The logline reads: “When Diana (Glowicki) wakes from a coma with fragmented memories, she and her husband (Petrie) seek experimental treatments at a remote facility. As the procedures intensify, their marriage is put to the test and Diana begins to question her husband’s true motives.”

The Canadian production is a part of XYZ’s New Visions slate of films designed to spotlight new talent.

The film is written by Sims-Fewer and Mancinelli and produced by Becky Yeboah,...

The highly anticipated third film in Ti West‘s X trilogy, MaXXXine is finally here, and the fans of the franchise are loving it. With a setting of the 80s when the real-life Night Stalker murders took place, the final film in the X trilogy follows the story of Maxine Minx as she finally gets her big break into the film industry, but when a mysterious serial killer begins to kill the starlets of Hollywood, Maxine’s future in the City of Angels comes into danger. MaXXXine stars Mia Goth in the lead role with Elizabeth Debicki, Halsey, Lily Collins, Sophie Thatcher, Moses Sumney, Kevin Bacon, Michelle Monaghan, Giancarlo Esposito, Chloe Farnworth, and Bobby Cannavale starring in supporting roles. So, if you loved the glitz, glamour, murder, and mystery in MaXXXine, here are some similar movies you could watch next.

Pearl (Prime Video) Credit – A24

Pearl is the second film...

Willem Dafoe becomes one of Robert Eggers' most frequent collaborators after starring in three of his movies: The Lighthouse, The Northman, and Nosferatu. Ralph Ineson also appears in three Eggers films, The Witch, The Northman, and Nosferatu, making him another pivotal collaborator. Anya Taylor-Joy could have joined Dafoe and Ineson as a top collaborator but dropped out due to scheduling conflicts.

Upon starring in an upcoming 2024 horror movie, Willem Dafoe will officially join an exclusive group of actors that might have also included Anya Taylor-Joy if it wasn't for unfortunate scheduling conflicts. In the last few years, Willem Dafoe's best performances have included Thomas Wake in The Lighthouse and Green Goblin in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Most recently, Dafoe has graced the big screen as the quirky scientist, Dr. Godwin Baxter, in Poor Things. Yet, Dafoe has had a long career, so it's no surprise that he recently earned a very elite label.

Since Prometheus marked his first return to the science fiction genre in several years, Ridley Scott went back to his roots for the prequel and in more ways than one. Going back to the famous chestburster scene in Alien forty-five years ago, the director has always enjoyed scaring his actors half to death, and the prequel continues this minor tradition. Although her role in Prometheus is relatively small, Kate Dickie was the latest actor to be subjected to Scott's trickery during the scene where Millburn (Rafe Spall) is killed, with the serpentine prop eliciting a genuine reaction from her.

Quick Links The Witch Is the Performance of Ralph Inesons Career Ralph Ineson Can Capture Galactuss Authority and Malevolence The Best Possible Galactus Actor Ralph Ineson's experience playing menacing villains in past roles makes him a surprisingly perfect fit for the Marvel villain Galactus. Ineson's nuanced portrayal of the tragic villain William in The Witch demonstrates his ability to capture both authority and malevolence. The unlikely choice of Ineson for Galactus could potentially be the breakout role that propels him into the mainstream spotlight.

At long last, after several years of speculation, the Marvel Cinematic Universe has finally found its Galactus. This week confirmed that next years Fantastic Four will see the feared Devourer of Worlds make his debut, played by Ralph Ineson, best known as Chris Finch in the BBC version of The Office, Dagmer Clefjaw in Game of Thrones, and the titular character in The Green Knight. While...