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Department Q: The Keeper of Lost Causes

It’s time to get hip to the “Department Q” films: Department Q: The Keeper Of Lost Causes, Department Q: The Absent One, and Department Q: A Conspiracy of Faith. Yesterday, these three electrifying Danish thrillers dropped on Netflix, filling the void left by Sherlock‘s hiatus and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo‘s ending.

So what is the deal with “Department Q” and why should you check these flicks out? Decider is here to lay it all out for you.

What exactly is Department Q?

Technically, Department Q is two things. One, it’s a franchise of crime novels and their film adaptations focused on a mysterious branch of the Danish government called “Department Q.”

Secondly, “Department Q” is specifically a unit in Danish law enforcement devoted to cold cases.

So the movies are about solving these old unsolved crimes?

Precisely. Nikolaj Lie Kaas stars as Carl Morck, a brilliant homicide detective who gets demoted to Department Q. His partner in solving crime? Another detective named Assad (played by actor Fares Fares). Together they delve into the crimes no one wants solved.

Sounds exciting. And these are based on books?

Yeah, right now there are six books in the Department Q series, all of which are written by Danish novelist Jussi Adler-Olsen. Only the first three have been made into films, though. So once you burn through these three on Netflix you may need to wait a while (or forever) for the follow ups.

Interestingly, the three Department Q films were written by another big artist: Nikolaj Arcel. He’s an up-and-coming auteur who broke through the international scene with the spell-binding historical romance A Royal Affair (starring some nobodies named Alicia Vikander and Mads Mikkelsen). His next big film? The long-awaited film adaptation of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower.