[Editor’s note: The following contains major spoilers for Dept. Q.]

Summary

The Netflix series ‘Dept. Q’ sets up an ongoing story with DCI Carl Morck building a cold case unit.

There is plenty of source material for future seasons, and Season 2 would again include a cold case and a current case.

Humor, character dynamics, and intriguing storytelling shape the series’ future.

From writer/director Scott Frank (The Queen’s Gambit), the Netflix series Dept. Q follows DCI Carl Morck (Matthew Goode), a brilliant cop trying to come to terms with a shooting that leaves his partner, DI James Hardy (Jamie Sives), paralyzed and a young police constable dead. With his sharp attitude exiled to the urinals and showers in the basement, Carl builds a cold case unit with Akram Salim (Alexej Manvelov), a Syrian immigrant with a mysterious past, and Rose Dickson (Leah Byrne), a detective constable struggling with PTSD, who both prove to be very useful and resourceful as they search for answers about a solicitor whose disappearance comes with more questions than answers. Rattling cages heats up the previously ice-cold trail but also forces Carl to work through his own trauma as he works to prove that Merritt Lingard (Chloe Pirrie) could still be alive. During this interview with Collider, Frank and Goode talked about how Dept. Q was always set up to be an ongoing series, why Carl just might be enjoying the basement a bit now that he’s solve his first cold case, what the framework for future seasons could look like, how Hardy could fit in with the team now that he’s out of the hospital, finding the humor, that the episodes have a slew of memorable lines of dialogue, making the therapy scenes work, whether there could be any future romance between Carl and Dr. Rachel Irving (Kelly Macdonald), the finale confrontation, and the choice to keep Carl and Merritt from having a conversation. They also hinted at what they’d like to be doing next. Collider: I love where you left off with this season, with Carl, Akram and Rose in their office space and Hardy showing up, presumably to figure out where and how he can fit into all of this. It really feels like you really have a team ready to go for Season 2. Is that the plan? Is that something you want to do? Was this always set up to continue on with more seasons? SCOTT FRANK: Yes, definitely. That was something we wanted to do, and hopefully we will do. One of the points of the first season was to end it with everybody together. Everybody is in isolation at the beginning, living their own pathetic lives, and by the end, they’re all in that shitty little basement together.
Matthew Goode Wants to Know What the Dynamic Between This Team Could Be If ‘Dept. Q’ Gets a Season 2

“It’s going to be really exciting if we do get to come back.”

Image via Netflix 

Matthew, how did you feel about where things were left? Does it feel like Carl Morck is enjoying being in the basement bathroom just a little bit more now? MATTHEW GOODE: I think so. For someone who is a slight lone wolf, or has been in the past, he absolutely does. It’s a question of, “I wonder how Hardy is going to feel. I wonder what the dynamic is going to be between the four of them.” If we do get to go again, and there’s nothing greenlit yet at all, that would be very exciting. But it’s also exciting to possibly see a bit more of what Carl’s life is and his home life, which is a very interesting throuple that’s going on. I don’t want to put any ideas into the genius’ (Scott Frank) brain, but I want to see what it’s like back at Akram’s house with his daughters. There’s a lot of stuff to play around with. It’s going to be really exciting if we do get to come back. Scott, have you thought about like a set framework for if you do have a Season 2 or even a Season 3? Would you want to do a cold case per season? Are you looking to do nine episodes in a season, or do you want to keep things a little more fluid than all of that? FRANK: This is based on a series of books. The second book in the series is quite good, so I’ve got a great idea for a second season. It is another cold case and also a current case, at the same time, that they’re looking into. So, I would do that. I don’t know that I would necessarily do nine episodes. I might just do six next time. We’ll see. But I do know what I want to do next. I do have the story in mind for the next season.

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There were a lot of moments in this and lines where I found myself laughing out loud, which kind of surprised me. I particularly enjoyed the exchange between Carl and Rachel, when she’s in his home and he says to her, “Should I pee in a cup?,” to have her reply, “Only if that’s where you normally do it.” Was all of that always scripted? Did any of that get added as you realized how well that worked? Do you guys have any favorite moments of humor from the season? GOODE: Yeah, that was scripted. I’m not going to take any credit. FRANK: I run a tight ship. GOODE: One of my favorite lines comes at the end of episode two when Carl says, “I’m praying, don’t interrupt me.” That’s classic. I was on the floor laughing at one of the saddest revelations about Rose when she’s in the car with Akram. That shows the skill of the writing, but Leah [Byrne] is also a bit of a revelation. She’s so wonderful. There’s some great darkness with great levity in this. It’s quite a juggling skill.
‘Dept. Q’ Creator Scott Frank Always Knew What His Ending for the First Season Would Be

“Those scenes at home, I had in my head before I ever started the first episode.”

Scott, did you always know how much humor would be in there, or did any of that get added as you realized how well it was working? FRANK: Sometimes you see an actor and actress, and you want to write more for them to do. In this case, because we were writing them as we were shooting them, to a degree, which was different for me, it did leave room for saying, “Oh, I know what I’m going to do here, based on this actor or that actor.” But for the most part, everybody laid out the way I wanted them to. There were a couple instances where I brought an actor back because I thought they were so good. There’s that scene with Kirsty Atkins near the end, when they visit her in prison. I really wanted to bring her back because she was so good. There were a few things that I began to do as I was going because I had the room to do it while we were still creating the episodes. They were still being written. But, for the most part, I had the ending, that very last moment. Those scenes at home, I had in my head before I even started the first episode. It can be really tricky to include therapist scenes in any story, but especially with something like this. There’s all this momentum as the case moves forward and we’re getting to know Carl better and his relationships, so him going to see a therapist could make all of that screeched to a halt, but somehow it doesn’t. Rachel is someone who doesn’t take any of his bullshit when he seems to respect. Scott, was it challenging to figure that relationship out? FRANK: No, it was fun. It was just doing exactly what you said, not doing the typical shrink-patient relationship, because we’ve seen that a lot. I thought, “What if she hates being there as much as he does? Start with that.” She doesn’t want to do this job. She wasn’t even supposed to be there. She’s filling in for someone. So, the minute he starts acting like a prick, she says, “Fine, then we don’t have to talk. I’m just gonna eat my lunch and you can sit there until your hour’s up, and that’s that. And he can’t believe that she just did that because she’s not buying his shtick. It was a lot of fun to write those scenes. GOODE: And a lot of fun to be in them.

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Matthew, what did you enjoy about finding that dynamic and playing with those moments? Do you see any kind of romantic relationship in their future, or is that something you would not want to see blurred between them? GOODE: I’m going to leave that up to the creator. It was actually, in some ways, a little bit tricky because, for Kelly [Macdonald] and I, we would have these big gaps in between. She’d be in one of two scenes per episode, so we both had a natural wariness. But I ended up loving it. When the therapist that’s meant to be with him turns up, he’s very angry about it. And then, he goes to her house. It was such a lovely opportunity to see this guy who was originally very uncomfortable being there, actually now needs it. Maybe there’s a romantic entanglement. I have no idea. But sometimes I think people shouldn’t be afraid to see a man and a woman navigate a friendship, rather than it necessarily needing to end up in bed. But I don’t know. She’s a brilliant actress. That’s what I can say. FRANK: First of all, she’s a great actress and I love her. I could see Carl having a couple women in his life. Also, his ex-wife because there is enormous chemistry between the two of them as well, even though there’s conflict. Watching the two of them in the room together, I thought, “Oh, there’s actually a hot chemistry here. It’s really interesting.” GOODE: She was amazing. In episode nine, when Carl and Akram are trying to figure out how to free Merritt, and Lyle comes in with the shotgun, he shoots Carl while he’s on the phone with Hardy, Akram pulls out a knife and throws it into his neck and then grabs the shotgun and kills Lyle. There are all those things happening in one scene, very quickly. What’s it like to figure all of that out and to shoot all of that? GOODE: You wouldn’t believe how quickly Scott had to figure that out. FRANK: We did not have a lot of time to shoot all of that. It was really tricky. So, I had to really pick the shots that were explicitly telling what the story is to what was happening. I just knew what was important. I knew that this time, Carl was going to take the bullet for his partner, in effect. Carl was going to do the opposite of what we saw in the beginning. I also knew that it would be really fun to see Akram as his final bit of something because he’s been slowly showing us this other side. I thought that would be interesting. So, what would that look like, if he came in with the shotgun? It’s very complicated, and how to get all those shots in the few hours that we had was pretty tricky. So, I just tried to figure out what the most simple but explicit way to do all of that. It was hard. That was one of the most difficult days, of the whole shoot, for me. I’m glad that you liked it. I’m glad that it worked for you.
Scott Frank Thought It Was More Interesting to Keep Carl and Merritt From Sharing a Moment in the ‘Dept. Q’ Finale

“If they have this moment, it can only be sentimental or sappy.”

Image via Netflix

Why did you decide to have Carl and Merritt pass by each other at the elevator at the end, but not actually have a conversation? Did you think of playing that out any other way? FRANK: Never. It’s the same reason why I had the shrink not act like a shrink. If they have this moment, it can only be sentimental or sappy. What’s she going to say? “Thank you.” And he says, “No problem.” I thought it was way more interesting. It makes Carl a good bloke. It gives Carl this other side to him. It’s heroic in a way where you realize he doesn’t care about any of that stuff. He’s glad she’s there. He’s glad she’s okay. And if she doesn’t recognize him, that’s probably for the best. That’s probably a good thing for her rather than giving her some awkward moment. To me, it plays so much better than if they had a conversation. I honestly wouldn’t even know how to write that conversation without it feeling like it’s just so on the nose. GOODE: I was so appreciative of it. Although I did say to Chloe Pirrie the other day, “It’d be really nice to work with you properly one day. We seem to be in this project, but we only met one day.” FRANK: And then, at the end, They don’t even speak to one another, after all of that.

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Do you guys each know what you’re going to be doing next? FRANK: I’m trying and hoping that I’m going to make a film version of this book that I adapted, Laughter in the Dark. It’s an old Nabokov book that I really want to do as a film. We’re just trying to put that together now, and I’d like to do that sooner rather than later, so that I have time, if I’m able to, to come back and do another season of this. GOODE: For me, one of them hasn’t been announced yet. There’s something quite exciting coming up, which is good. And then, there was a project that went down, earlier this year. It’s a thing with Zoe Saldaña and a really lovely script, by the same gentleman who wrote Birdman. So, that may happen. I don’t know. But the next thing that is definite, I can’t even speak about.

Dept. Q

Release Date

May 29, 2025

Network

Netflix

Dept. Q is available to stream on Netflix. Check out the trailer: