Netflix has managed to add not one but three great Nordic noir dramas this year already.
First we had The Breakthrough, then The Åre Murders, and now The Glass Dome, created by bestselling crime author Camilla Läckberg.
The Scandi detective drama seems to be having quite the time of it, with 2025 proving a real golden age for the genre. Despite only being released earlier this week, The Glass Dome has already stormed up to number 2 in the Netflix most-watched chart in the US and number 4 in the UK at the time of writing.
The Glass Dome is a little different from The Breakthrough and The Åre Murders in that the leading character, Lejla Ness, isn't a detective (she's a criminal profiler), but she essentially becomes one when a little girl goes missing in a remote Swedish village.
The twist is that Lejla herself was abducted as a small child and held captive in a glass dome. So when Alicia vanishes, Lejla begins to delve into the village's secrets, believing that history is repeating itself.
She's aided by her adopted father, Valter, who just so happens to be the retired local police chief. His brother, Tomas, is now the head of the police, but he's hiding his own secret.
Who can Lejla trust out of the local men? Who's behind the kidnapping? It's a great setup and actually slides into the horror genre at times with a few neat scares. Léonie Vincent is highly engaging as Lejla, who is not surprisingly tormented by her past. Like a lot of Scandi dramas, what The Glass Dome does really well is focus on the victims rather than pushing them to one side. In The Glass Dome’s case, the victim, Lejla, is at the heart of the whole story. She’s determined that this time her abductor will be caught.
The Glass Dome is very good at misdirecting you as you build up your list of suspects. You end up suspecting almost all the men in the village at some point!
Is The Glass Dome as good as The Åre Murders?
I don’t think The Glass Dome quite reaches the heights of The Åre Murders. It could do with more of the dry humour The Åre Murders had, and Lejla isn’t as appealing as the lead character in that series, Hana.
Nonetheless, it's a great watch, and if you're into Nordic noir, it's a no-brainer to binge-watch it as soon as possible. The Glass Dome is just six episodes, with each one running for 50 minutes.
It also makes me want to read the novels by its creator, Camilla Läckberg, who has penned a string of acclaimed crime mysteries, including "The Ice Princess".
The Glass Dome, The Åre Murders, and The Breakthrough are all available to stream on Netflix now.
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