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The Killing (U.S. TV series)
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The Killing
The Killing 2011 Intertitle.png
Genre Serial crime drama
Developed by Veena Sud
Starring Mireille Enos
Billy Campbell
Joel Kinnaman
Michelle Forbes
Brent Sexton
Kristin Lehman
Eric Ladin
Brendan Sexton III
Jamie Anne Allman
Annie Corley
Country of origin United States
Language(s) English
No. of seasons 1
No. of episodes 2 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s) Veena Sud
Mikkel Bondesen
Søren Sveistrup
Piv Bernth
Ingolf Gabold
Producer(s) Aaron Zelman
Jeremy Doner
Kristen Campo
Dawn Prestwich
Nicole Yorkin
Location(s) Vancouver, British Columbia
Running time 45 minutes
Production company(s) Fox Television Studios
Fuse Entertainment
Broadcast
Original channel AMC
Original run April 3, 2011 (2011-04-03) – present
Chronology
Related shows Forbrydelsen
External links
Website
The Killing is an American crime drama television series based on the Danish television series with the same English title, but known as Forbrydelsen (The Crime) in Danish. The American version is developed by Veena Sud and produced by Fox Television Studios and Fuse Entertainment. The series' first season, consisting of 13 hour-long episodes, premiered on the cable channel AMC on April 3, 2011, with a two-hour premiere.[1]
Contents
[hide]
* 1 Plot
* 2 Cast and characters
* 3 Production
* 4 Reception
* 5 References
* 6 External links
[edit] Plot
Set in Seattle, Washington, the series follows the police investigation, the grieving family and the suspects, after the homicide of a young girl, Rosie Larsen.[1] Each of the 13 episodes will chronicle one day of the investigation. In comparison to the original Danish series, executive producer Veena Sud explained, "We're creating our own world. We are using the Danish series as a blueprint, but we are kind of diverging and creating our own world, our world of suspects and, potentially, ultimately who killed Rosie Larsen." Sud describes the series as "slow-burn storytelling in a sense that every moment that we don't have to prettify or gloss over or make something necessarily easy to digest, that we're able to go to all sorts of places that are honest, and dark, and beautiful and tragic, in a way that is how a story should be told."[2]
[edit] Cast and characters
* Mireille Enos as Sarah Linden, the lead homicide detective
* Billy Campbell as Darren Richmond, politician running for mayor of Seattle
* Joel Kinnaman as Stephen Holder, Sarah's homicide detective partner
* Michelle Forbes as Mitch Larsen, Rosie's mother
* Brent Sexton as Stanley Larsen, Rosie's father
* Kristin Lehman as Gwen Eaton, Darren's lover and his campaign adviser
* Eric Ladin as Jamie Dempsey, Darren's campaign manager
[edit] Production
The pilot was ordered by AMC in January 2010, and then was picked up for a full series order in August 2010.[3][4] The series is filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, and production began on the pilot episode on December 2, 2010.[5] The pilot is written by series creator and executive producer Veena Sud and is directed by Patty Jenkins.[4]
[edit] Reception
The series has received universal acclaim from critics. Tim Goodman of The Hollywood Reporter gave the series a very positive review, calling it "excellent, absorbing and addictive. When each episode ends, you long for the next — a hallmark of great dramas." Goodman also praised Mireille Enos's performance as the lead character Sarah, saying "It's not until you watch Enos play Sarah for a while that it sinks in — there hasn't been a female American character like her probably ever."[6] Entertainment Weekly's Ken Tucker gave it a B+, saying "The acting is strikingly good" and that "Some viewers may find The Killing a little too cold and deliberate, but give it time. Its intensity builds steadily, giving the series unexpected power."[7] Alex Strachan of The Vancouver Sun says the series "is soaked in atmosphere and steeped in the stark realism of Scandinavian crime novelists Henning Mankell and Stieg Larsson" and that it "is not as much about a young girl's murder as it is a psychological study of what happens afterward, how a tight-knit community tries to recover and how a dead child's mother, father and siblings learn to deal with their pain in their own private ways."[8] Matt Roush of TV Guide applauded the series, calling the acting "tremendous" and that he "was instantly hooked by the moody atmosphere of this season-long murder mystery set in Seattle." He went on to say "What really stands out for me, in this age of cookie-cutter procedurals, is how The Killing dramatizes the devastation a violent death has on a family, a community, on the people involved in the investigation. Nothing about this show is routine."[9]
The premiere was AMC's second-highest original series premiere following The Walking Dead. The premiere drew 2.7 million viewers and a 2 household rating. The two encores of the premiere episode brought the ratings of the premiere up to a total of 4.6 million total viewers and a 3.7 household rating.[10]
