As any pop culture aficionado can confirm, the Scandis know their stuff. Whether it’s The Worst Person In The World (Norwegian), A Man Called Ove (Swedish), or anything by Ingmar Bergman, the cultural catalogue hailing from Norway, Sweden and Denmark is as vast as it is critically acclaimed. And one Danish TV series sits right at the heart of that.

Introducing The Chestnut Man, the ludicrously popular Netflix series that earned a 100 per cent score on Rotten Tomatoes when the first season was released in 2021. For context, this is a rare feat, requiring every professional critic tracked by the review site to have given the project a positive review. It was well-deserved, too.

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Set in Copenhagen, the series followed two detectives hunting for a particularly creative serial killer with a penchant for leaving figurines of chestnuts at the scene of his horrific crimes. A politician’s child goes missing, and suddenly it all becomes connected in a labyrinth of grisly goings on, touching on everything from childhood trauma and violence against women to psychological warfare and political pressure.

What is The Chestnut Man: Hide and Seek about?

The series opens with the case of a missing 41-year-old woman who, as it transpires, was being stalked. Detectives Mark Hess and Naia Thulin return to lead the investigation into her whereabouts, uncovering a perpetrator who has been psychologically torturing his victim by playing a sadistic game of hide and seek.

Naturally, this is no child’s play: cue a rather terrifying take on the seemingly innocent game, accompanied by a nursery rhyme. The case quickly becomes linked to the unsolved murder of a teenage girl two years ago. The drama unfolds from there as the dynamic duo tries to piece everything together, while working on their fractured relationship in light of unresolved tensions from the previous season.

If there’s anything else we can expect, it’s to be surprised. ‘The best examples of Nordic Noir are when there is an unpredictability to the plot and believable characters that, apart from trying to find the killer, have something personal at stake,’ said Milad Alami, the show’s Conceptual Director. ‘This is something we have worked with in every department, from scripts to visuals and production design.’

Is it connected to the first season?

We’ll have to wait and see, but so far, it looks like the only common thread is the return of our two lead detectives, Hess and Thulin. Still, according to the show’s writers and creators, it sounds like this season will examine similar themes to the first one.

Photo Credit: TineHarden_Netflx

‘It has once again been a great pleasure for us to delve into Hess, Thulin, and the entire universe of The Chestnut Man,’ said Dorte W. Høgh and Emilie Lebech Kaae in a statement announcing the second season. ‘This time in the form of an innocent game of hide-and-seek that the perpetrator twists into an involuntary, brutal stalking of innocent victims. Loosely based on Søren Sveistrup’s popular novel, and together with a whole team of talented people, we tell a story about families falling apart, about loss, grief, and, not least, powerlessness – set in a world where, with our phone in hand, we are constantly being watched and can never truly hide.’

Who stars in The Chestnut Man: Hide and Seek?

Danica Curcic (The Mist, Equinox) returns as Naia Thulin, and Mikkel Boe Følsgaard (The Rain, Borgen) once again plays Mark Hess. Other confirmed cast members are Sofie Gråbøl (The Killing, Prisoner) as Marie Holst, Katinka Lærke Petersen (The Pushover) as Sandra Lindstrøm, and Özlem Sahlanmak (Enforcement) as Esra Foldager.

When does The Chestnut Man: Hide and Seek come out?

The full six-part series lands on Netflix on Thursday, 7 May.