The Book ‘The Breakthrough’ Turns Into Swedish Netflix Series

- How a genealogist solved the Swedish double murder - Nov 3, 2022 - Today Netflix announced The Breakthrough, a five part Swedish series based on the novel The Breakthrough: How the genealogist solved the double murder in Linköping [Genombrottet: Så löste släktforskaren dubbelmordet i Linköping] from 2021 written by the journalist Anna Bodin and the genealogist Peter Sjölund.  In the leading roles are Peter Eggers (Snabba Cash s1 and 2, Blinded) and Mattias Nordkvist (The Restaurant, The Wife) as the police officer and the genealogist. The Breakthrough will be produced by FLX and directed by Lisa Siwe (I taket lyser stjärnorna, Modus). Scriptwriter is Oskar Söderlund (Snabba Cash, Mörkt hjärta).  When the double murder in Linköping, Sweden, back in 2004 was finally solved after 16 years, it was a genealogist who made the breakthrough. For the first time in Europe, a murder could be solved through genealogical research. The Breakthrough is a fictional story about the unexpected hero, an unlikely collaboration, and the hunt for a killer. But it is also a story about how an unsolved crime affects a society and what happens to people who are left without answers to both "Who?" and Why?". "When I read the book The Breakthrough, I was struck by the fact that there was 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. In the midst of this tragedy, there are people who refuse to give up, who're struggling to move on and whose whole life is marked by what happened.", says Oskar Söderlund, scriptwriter. “Though this is a fictional drama series about a crime, it is above all a depiction of a human tragedy, where we place our focus on the victims and the investigation rather than the perpetrator. It's a story about the compassion and care for one another that is needed to move on when terrible things happen. In our series, 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”, says Lisa Siwe, director. “We’re excited that FLX and Netflix will tell this story, based on our extensive work. This is the first criminal case in Europe that has been solved with genetic genealogy, and it is a case that has touched both of us, the city of Linköping and Sweden deeply”, says Anna Bodin and Peter Sjölund, book authors. Based on the book The Breakthrough: How the genealogist solved the double murder in Linköping by Anna Bodin and Peter Sjölund Production company: FLX  Scriptwriter: Oskar Söderlund (Snabba Cash, Mörkt hjärta) Director: Lisa Siwe (I taket lyser stjärnorna, Modus) Producer: Lejla Bešić Executive Producer: Elin Kvist Download headshots of Peter and Mattias here The Breakthrough will launch globally on Netflix in 2024. Launch date is still to be announced.  www.netflix.com/thebreakthrough About FLX: FLX is one of Scandinavia’s largest and fastest growing production companies in scripted series, feature film, non-scripted TV and commercials. Previous scripted productions include: Quicksand (Netflix), The Dark Heart (Discovery+), The Unlikely Murderer (Netflix), Love & Anarchy (Netflix), Vi i villa (Discovery+), Blinded (C More), Bonus Family (SVT), Solsidan (TV4), and feature films The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared (Disney Nordics) and Comedy Queen (SF Studios). FLX is owned by SF Studios, Felix Herngren and Pontus Edgren.