Prizmi Tripathi
If you’re a fan of detective novels, you must be aware of the fictional Swedish police inspector created by famed crime writer Henning Mankell – Kurt Wallander. The popularity of the novels paved the way for nine films, which put Nordic noir on the radar of the international audience. In 2020, Netflix adapted it to a mystery series titled ‘Young Wallander’, giving Adam Pålsson the chance to essay the character and join the ranks of acclaimed actors like Rolf Lassgård, Krister Henriksson, and Sir Kenneth Branagh.
The prequel series is a modern-day re-imagining of the classic. It revolves around the personal and professional life of the titular character, a 20-something cop serving at the local police force, as he strives to solve a harrowing case of crime on the directions of his superintendent Hemberg. Once he gets promoted to the post of a detective, Kurt showcases his iconic investigative abilities while dealing with the guilt and trauma from the cases he failed to crack before it’s too late. The crime series has been adapted to screen by creator Ben Harris, along with writers Anoo Bhagavan, Jessica Ruston, and Ben Schiffer. If the show’s gritty and gloomy urban setting makes you wonder: Where is ‘Young Wallander’ filmed? Well, we might be able to help you with that.
Young Wallander Filming Locations
Apart from Adam Pålsson’s compelling performance, it has been lauded for daring to touch upon relevant themes like immigration, trafficking, and violent gang crimes that are quite rampant in present-day Sweden. The principal photography on the series commenced in late 2018 and concluded a year later, in late 2019.
Although Young Wallander is set in Sweden, the production team had to fly to Lithuania for filming. One of the Baltic states in Europe, Lithuania stands in as contemporary Sweden in the series. Here are the particular filming sites!
Vilnius, Lithuania
The show is extensively filmed in the city of Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, which is located in the south-eastern region of the country. The heterogeneous landscapes, cobble-stoned streets, and baroque architecture prompted the production designer Malin Lindholm to set up the filming base in Vilnius. All of the aforementioned things serve as the perfect background for contemporary Sweden.
Only two days were devoted to shooting in Malmö, which is home to Kurt’s residence, The Rosengård housing estate. The city of Vilnius doubles up for the southern Swedish city for the rest of the series. For filming the nightclub scene in the first season, Malin transformed an abandoned prison, packed with 380 extras, and called it The Cube.
The residential neighborhood of Šeškinė was built in 1977 in the north of Vilnius by the Soviet regime. While scouting for locations that fit the rawness and realism that’s required to depict Kurt’s story, the location manager chanced upon Šeškinė, and one of the flats in the district ended up serving as Kurt’s apartment in the series.
If the backdrop in the series looks familiar, that is because several parts of the city were used as a filming location in ‘Chernobyl,’ ‘Tokyo Trial,’ and ‘The Last Czars.’ Vilnius is regarded as a filming-friendly city by filmmakers around the world because of its spectacular locations and a large supply of proficient human resources. It is also home to a UNESCO World Heritage Site – Old Town – which is one of the largest surviving medieval old towns in Northern Europe.
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