# Those Who Kill (2019 TV series)

Those Who Kill (Danish: Den Som Dræber), distributed as Darkness: Those Who Kill (Danish: Den Som Dræber - Fanget af Mørket) in some regions, is a Danish crime thriller television series created by Ina Bruhn [da] and produced by Miso Film and Viaplay/Nordic Entertainment Group. It was released on Viaplay in the Nordic countries on 1 March 2019 and has since been broadcast/streamed in several other countries. The series revolves around criminal profiler Louise Bergstein's (Natalie Madueño) attempts to link unsolved murders. The series is a reboot of the crime thriller of the same name that was created by Elsebeth Egholm and aired on TV 2 in 2011. The second season was distributed as Blinded: Those Who Kill in some regions, the third as Lost: Those Who Kill and the fourth as Justice: Those Who Kill.

## Plot
### Season 1

After spending six months unsuccessfully trying to find 17-year-old Julie Vinding (Alvilda Lyneborg Lassen), who went missing on her way home from a party in a Copenhagen suburb, detective Jan Michelson (Kenneth M. Christensen) is taken off the case by his superiors who believe the girl is dead. Michelson continues to work on the case in his spare time and discovers the disappearance of Natasha, another 17-year old blonde girl, ten years earlier. He quickly finds Natasha's body in a lake and is re-instated on the case. Michelson's boss MT (Peter Mygind) brings in criminal profiler Louise Bergstein (Natalie Madueño) to assist in the investigation. When a third blonde girl, hotel worker Emma Holst (Tessa Hoder), is kidnapped, the investigators discover that they may be hunting a serial killer.

### Season 2

After returning to Funen to see her mother's friend Alice Ejbye (Solbjørg Højfeldt), Bergstein is asked by Ejbye, who has terminal cancer, to investigate the unsolved murder of her 18-year-old son Markus Ejbye (Vilmer Trier Brøgger) five years earlier. Bergstein soon finds similarities to unsolved murders of two other young men on the island, Kasper Larsen (Téo Lepetit) and Ricky Hansen (Peter Zandersen), which also occurred five years earlier. When a fifth young man, William Fjeldby (Oscar Dyekjær Giese), a friend of Markus Ejbye, is murdered in similar circumstances, she teams up with Karina Hørup (Helle Fagralid), the lead detective on the cases, to track down a serial killer who has resumed killing after a five-year hiatus.

## Cast and characters
### Season 1

* Kenneth M. Christensen as Jan Michelsen
* Natalie Madueño as Louise Bergstein
* Signe Egholm Olsen [da] as Stine Velin
* Mads Riisom [da] as Anders Kjeldsen
* Peter Mygind as Møller Thomsen "MT"
* Uffe Rørbæk [da] as Dennis Højbjerg
* Tessa Hoder [da] as Emma Holst
* Regitze Estrup [da] as Gitte Hermansen
* Maibritt Saerens as Anette Karlslund
* Dorte Højsted [da] as Bente Velin
* Peter Plaugborg as Mikkel Velin
* Peter Damm-Ottesen [da] as Ole Velin
* Alvilda Lyneborg Lassen as Julie Vinding

### Season 2

* Natalie Madueño as Louise Bergstein
* Tobias Santelmann as Peter Vinge
* Helle Fagralid as Karina Hørup
* Solbjørg Højfeldt as Alice Ejbye
* Kasper Leisner [da] as Torben Vissinge
* Jens Andersen as Søren Dedenroth
* Louis Næss-Schmidt as Johannes Vinge
* Josephine Park as Masja Zelinsky
* Henrik Prip as Leif Halborg

### Season 3

* Natalie Madueño as Louise Bergstein
* Simon Sears as Frederik Havgaard
* Alex Høgh Andersen as Bjørn Jepsen
* Thit Aaberg as Maria Jepsen

### Season 4

* Natalie Madueño as Louise Bergstein
* Simon Sears as Frederik Havgaard
* Omar Shargawi [da] as Robin Smith
* Besir Zeciri as Kim Jensen
* Dag Malmberg as Gunnar Nymark
* Kajsa Ernst as Lena Nymark
* Cyron Melville as Jacob Østergaard

## Release

Season 1 was released in the Nordic countries on the Viaplay streaming service on 1 March 2019. NPO 3 started broadcasting season 1 in the Netherlands on 20 April 2019. In the UK BBC Four started broadcasting season 1 as Darkness: Those Who Kill on 31 August 2019. In Australia season 1 premiered on SBS On Demand on 18 December 2019. In Germany it started streaming as Darkness – Schatten der Vergangenheit on the Joyn Plus+ service on 26 November 2019. In Spain Filmin started streaming season 1 as Darkness: La Huella del Crimen on 3 March 2020. Arte broadcast season 1 in September 2020 as Le Tueur de l'Ombre in France and Darkness – Schatten der Vergangenheit in Germany.
Season 2 started streaming on Viaplay on 28 March 2021. It was broadcast on BBC Four in the UK in May as Blinded: Those Who Kill and streamed on Acorn TV in the US and Joyn Plus+ in Germany.
Season 3 was broadcast on BBC Four in the UK as Lost: Those Who Kill, starting on 8 April 2023.
Season 4 was broadcast on BBC Four in the UK as Justice: Those Who Kill, starting on 26 October 2024.

## Reception

The series was nominated for the Best TV Series (Årets tv-serie) award at the Danish Film Academy's 2020 Robert Awards. Tessa Hoder was nominated for the Best Danish Actor (Årets danske skuespiller) award at TV 2 Zulu's 2020 Zulu Awards.