We interviewed Leanne Best, who plays the famous detective’s colleague Detective Rask, and Ellise Chappell, who plays Wallander’s great love Mona, about their characters and the series.
Young Wallander was released simultaneously around the world. How do you feel, what are you most excited about in this series?
Leanne Best: The world of Wallander is an amazing place. It’s a wonderful feeling to be part of this project and to be able to reach new audiences. It’s very exciting for me. Netflix has an incredible network of viewers. It will be released simultaneously in all countries and reach millions of viewers. It’s really very exciting.
Ellise Chappell: Wallander is such an iconic character. He is much loved and is very well known to his fans. It is an incredible feeling to star in a TV show that narrates the events that shaped this character, his relationships, and his past.
Have you read the novels that the Wallander character was inspired by after agreeing to the project? How do you feel about the adaptation of a cult novel character to his 20s, when he was never written in today’s world?
Leanne Best: I had seen the series, I knew the novels, but I hadn’t read them yet. Of course, I read them, I loved them. I was especially impressed by Mona because she is a very different character in the novels. In the novels, she works as a hairdresser. In the series, she works for an organization that helps migrants and provides asylum. So you actually start the series with a blank, clean page, especially when it comes to Mona.
Ellise Chappell: “Wallander is such an iconic character. He is much loved and is very well known to his fans. It is an incredible feeling to star in a TV show that narrates the events that shaped this character, his relationships, and his past.”
Ellise Chappell, you play the character of Mona. Mona is a very important character in Wallander’s life, Mona is Wallander’s great love, we know from the novels that he married Mona, they had a daughter, and Mona left Wallander. In fact, on the one hand, you are portraying the youth of a novel character, an unwritten period of her life. She is a very strong woman, she works in a foundation that helps immigrants. Wallander sees Mona for the first time at a racist demonstration, protesting against them and the police, and he is impressed. What did the character of Mona evoke in you?
Ellise Chappell: Mona is a very interesting character. When we meet Mona in the series, we see that she is a very confident woman. She is a passionate woman with ideals. She seems to be dedicated to values such as justice, equality, and human rights. It was exciting to be able to tell who this character was. Mona also has a big heart. She actually sees that Wallander does, too. That’s what draws her to Wallander.
Leanne, you play Inspector Rask, a police officer who follows the rules, takes care to do his job well, and is a bit tough. He’s also someone who teaches Wallander a lot about his profession. We understand Rask’s character better when he works with Wallander and Hemberg. What do you think about Rask?
Leanne Best: You actually summarized my character pretty well (laughs). Yes, he is a tough and fair detective. He has more experience in the profession than Wallander, of course. Even though he tries to do his job in the best way possible, he knows that his strong sense of morality can be torn in two by politics. The conflict we witness between the characters Rask and Wallander stems from the fact that Wallander stubbornly wants to pursue the case. Rask thinks that Wallander is naive, inexperienced, and too emotional. In such a case, it is difficult for Wallander to make some strong decisions. That is why they also get into arguments. As their relationship progresses, Wallander learns a lot from Rask, yes, but the same applies to Rask. We also see that Rask is a bridge between Hamberg and Wallander. Towards the end, he surrenders too (laughs). “Okay, let’s finish this,” he says to Wallander.
In Young Wallander, the issues of anti-immigration and racism are at the forefront. What do you think about the current situation in the world, anti-immigration in Europe and America, the rising racism, and the police violence that develops in parallel to these?
Leanne Best: There is a rise of the radical right wing. We see that the socio-economic situation is getting worse day by day. People are more easily ruled when they are deprived of their rights, when they are economically weakened, or so the people in charge think. We need to look at history, analyze history, and try not to make the same mistakes. We need to find common ground. There is a great disharmony between the right and left wings. We need to talk, we need to be able to talk to overcome these difficulties while preserving our humanity.
Ellise Chappell: Leanne summarized it very well. Kindness, compassion, empathy… We need these so much.
Leanne Best: This is one of my favorite things about Young Wallander. One should understand a person’s past, who he is, and where he came from. Our lives could have been very different, so we must put ourselves in their shoes. That’s where the power of storytelling lies.
Leanne Best: “This is one of my favorite things about Young Wallander. One should understand a person’s past, who he is, and where he came from. Our lives could have been very different, so we must put ourselves in their shoes. That’s where the power of storytelling lies.”
What kind of relationship do you have with the crime fiction genre? Leanne, you’ve been involved in cult crime series like Ripper Street and Line of Duty, do you like crime fiction as a genre?
Leanne Best: I love serial killer documentaries; is that weird? (laughs). I read somewhere that crime fiction is the most universally preferred and loved genre. We see the reflections of the dark corners of our minds when we read or watch crime fiction. We watch monsters, but they are among us; they are everywhere. On the one hand, we love to watch the detectives who try to uncover these crimes; we identify with them. Crime fiction is where moral issues are strongly handled, and the system can be criticized very well.
Ellise Chappell: I didn’t think I was a fan of crime fiction, but there came a moment when I realized that I only watch crime fiction (laughs). As Leanne said, you get the opportunity to taste different experiences. I love Mindhunter and The Night of… It’s a great show.
Leanne Best: We also love our crime fiction (laughs). I hope you like it too.
Do you have a message for the viewers in Türkiye, what would you like to say?
Leanne Best: I’d like to say hello (laughs). Thank you for watching Young Wallander. Yes, this series is set in Sweden. Wallander is a Swedish character. But I hope that they watch and see the story we have created as a universal story that touches everybody. There are some things that are hard to watch, of course, but there’s action, there’s mystery. I’m sure they will enjoy it.
Ellise Chappell: I hope you enjoy it, it feels magnificent to share our excitement with you.
