Wallander Reboot Finds UK and North American Homes
The BBC has picked up UK rights to the new Swedish-made Wallander series, and US streaming service MHz Choice has taken US and Canada rights, Deadline reported on 21 October 2026.
"Rights" here means permission to show a programme in a particular country. In the UK, the series will air on BBC Four and BBC iPlayer, the broadcaster's streaming service.
The show is a fresh take on the detective created by Henning Mankell. Gustaf Skarsgård plays Kurt Wallander, who is 42 and newly separated after two decades of marriage when the story begins. Each season opens a new chapter in the character's life, and this first season is made up of three 90-minute films.
The series was commissioned by Swedish broadcaster TV4 together with Banijay Rights, the international sales arm of Banijay Entertainment, along with ARD Degeto in Germany, Film i Skåne and Ystad Österlen Filmfond. Four directors worked on it: Antonia Pyk, Molly Hartleb, Pella Kågerman and Hugo Lilja. Glenn Lund produced it.
Banijay Entertainment first announced the return of Wallander in April 2025, as a reimagining by the production companies Jarowskij and Yellow Bird. The character has a long history on screen. The original Wallander series and films ran from 1994 to 2014, and Mankell's novels have sold more than 40 million copies in more than 40 languages.
Banijay Rights is also offering the series to other broadcasters. It has shopped the show to NPO in the Netherlands, VRT in Belgium, HRT in Croatia and LNK in Lithuania, according to Deadline.
The series is part of the GreenLit showcase at MIA Market in Rome. The showcase lets producers present projects to international buyers, and it is one of the places where deals for programmes like this are made.
Mankell died in 2015, aged 67. Fans of his books now have a new version to watch, and a new set of viewers in the UK and North America will meet Kurt Wallander for the first time.
