From Nordic Noir to Euro Noir: Nordic Noir Influencing European Serial SVoD Drama

Abstract

This chapter reads the stylistic and serial appearance of Nordic Noir and the adaptation of style and narrative from especially Forbrydelsen (The Killing, 2007–2012) in recent crime dramas produced for new important players on the European VOD market: the Czech crime drama Pustina (2016) produced for HBO Europe and the German supernatural crime drama Dark (2017) produced for Netflix. Besides involving cases of missing children, Dark also points toward new supernatural trends in Nordic and European crime drama, while Pustina takes what Glen Creeber (2015) called “the slow and melancholic pace” to further extremes in its obvious indebtedness to The Killing. Both serials deeply reflect Nordic Noir’s autumn aesthetics and utilization of real locations while indicating the transnational strategies of new VOD services.