The five-part crime series The Breakthrough (Genombrottet) is loosely based on the 2021 book ‘The Breakthrough: How the genealogist solved the double murder in Linköping’ by journalist Anna Bodin and genealogist/DNA expert Peter Sjölund. The latter made the headlines in 2004 by helping police officers solve a 16 year-long double murder investigation in Linköping. It was the first time in Europe that a murder could be solved through genealogical research.

Söderlund said that when he read the book, he was “struck by the fact that there were such strong human destinies behind this massive murder investigation”. “Police officers who refuse to give up, relatives who wanted answers and last but not least the genealogist who finally came up with the solution. It is a terrible trauma that has affected the people and the city of Linköping, and I want to respectfully tell about the attempts to move on from such trauma,” he said.

In the fiction series the story follows the genealogist played by Peter Eggers (Snabba Cash, Young Royals) and the police officer played by Mattias Nordkvist (Suburbia, The Shift) as they embark on a hunt for the killer. Beyond the whodunnit, the series depicts how an unsolved crime can affect a society and people left without answers.

Director Lisa Siwe (Modus, Glowing Stars) who will direct the full season, emphasised that the series will “focus on the victims and the investigation, rather than the perpetrator”. “We follow the two main protagonists as they search for the answer that all the other characters are looking for, by working with two completely different methods. The genealogist moves backwards in time to find clues in church records and family trees, and the police officer moves forward in his search for the next trace of the perpetrator.”

The Breakthrough is produced by FLX’s Lejla Bešić (behind the Nordisk Film & TV Fond Prize nominated Suburbia), with head of drama Elin Kvist serving as executive producer.

The show is due to premiere on Netflix sometime in 2023.

Earlier series produced the Swedish production powerhouse FLX for the US streaming giant include Quicksand, The Unlikely Murderer, Love & Anarchy 1&2.