Apple TV’s Nocturne Premieres as a Slow-Burn Crime Drama

Cuyahoga County readers and local television audiences can tune in to a new Apple TV thriller called Nocturne, which premieres on Friday, October 30. The series is a crime drama that adapts a series of best-selling Scandinavian mystery novels. It casts Liev Schreiber as a retired Philadelphia police officer named Jonah Lynn. The show centers on his return to an old investigation when a missing boy is found alive years after he disappeared with his sister.

The production consists of a season of ten episodes. Seven of these episodes were provided to critics for review ahead of the premiere. The narrative structure relies on a slow-burn format where a single complex investigation spans the entire season. This style became common on streaming platforms after the success of shows like The Killing in 2011. Nocturne joins a list of recent acclaimed mystery series that utilize this extended timeline approach to tell their stories.

The plot begins with the serial killer Jurek Walter, played by Stephen Graham, being held in a psychiatric hospital in Pennsylvania. While confined, he tricks an inmate in the next cell into committing suicide. This event triggers a new search for a missing girl after Michael, a boy believed to be one of Walter’s victims, turns up in a weak state. Michael was missing for years alongside his sister. His return draws Jonah Lynn back into the case along with an FBI agent named Saga, played by Zazie Beetz.

Saga serves as a surrogate daughter to Jonah and goes undercover as a patient at the hospital where Jurek is held. Jonah works outside the official channels to catch Jurek directing violent crimes from his cell. The goal is to prove the killer is coherent enough to be moved to a standard prison. The cast also includes Poorna Jagannathan as an FBI colleague named Quinn and Bill Camp as the local police chief. They lead the official search while Jonah and Saga pursue the case through more personal methods.

The series is based on the Joona Linna novels written by Lars Kepler. This pen name belongs to the Swedish couple Alexander Ahndoril and Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril. Creator Rowan Joffé adapted the source material for television. The show places heavy emphasis on the characters inside the psychiatric facility. Actors such as Rory Culkin, who plays a hospital worker named Karl, and Stephen Graham add tension through their performances in these confined settings.

Critics noted that the characters outside the hospital receive less attention. Actors including Chrissy Metz, who plays Michael’s mother Ida, portray roles that lack the depth of their counterparts in the facility. The setting in small-town Pennsylvania invites comparisons to previous hits like Mare of Easttown. However, Nocturne focuses primarily on the mechanics of the crime and the specific individuals involved in solving it rather than exploring the wider community life in detail.