Netflix’s Swedish crime drama, The Breakthrough, is inspired by the real-life account of the 2004 Linköping double homicide case, one of the most infamous cases in the country’s history, that remained unsolved for over one and a half decades. The victims, eight-year-old Mohammad Amouri and fifty-six-year-old Anna-Lena Svensson, were stabbed to death in broad daylight, and the identity of the killer remained a mystery until 2020, when ancestry tracing through DNA mapping techniques was utilized to track down the perpetrator. While the technological advancement of genetic identification, which helped the investigators to solve the case, is unique and promising, the miniseries mainly focuses on the human aspect of the investigation by taking the lives of involved persons into account. A greater emphasis is put on the terrible nature of the crime, which affected not only the families of the victims but also the ones who became embroiled in the investigation and started considering it a personal crisis.
John Sundin, Played By Peter Eggers
In his three-decade-long acting career, Swedish actor Peter Eggers has appeared in movies like Evil and Drowning Ghost and rose to prominence with the historical crime drama series Anno 1790. In The Breakthrough, he played the role of Detective John Sundin (based on real-life detective inspector Jan Egon Staaf) of the Linkoping police department, who finds himself assigned to the double homicide case, gets morbidly obsessed with solving it, and eventually cracks it after sixteen long years. As a former professional athlete—two-time Olympic participant in racewalking—it is understandable that John’s sense of integrity and responsibility is more pronounced, which is why he can’t simply hand over the investigation to someone else after facing setbacks and sees it through to the end. John is an empathetic, kind soul—and as a father, he can relate to Saad Abbas’ pain of losing his son in a horrid tragedy, which is why giving up was never an option for him. However, in his obsession to seek justice, John, like any fictional investigator worth their salt, becomes unmindful of his own family, resulting in his separation from his dear wife, Anna, and estranged relationship with their son, Charlie. Cracking the case becomes the sole objective and purpose of John’s life, and even though he realizes his mistake over the years, there was no way to undo the damage that had been dealt to his family life.
After partnering with Per Skogkvist, the genealogist whose DNA mapping technique proves to be the only viable option to nab the culprit, John exhibits a tendency to take control and force his opinion on others—but this is solely out of his desperation to wrap up the investigation before time runs out and he is assigned to a different case. Eventually, John acknowledges that he didn’t do right by the people close to him, and after the investigation comes to an end, he shifts his focus to his family with the hopes of making amends.
Per Skogkvist, Played By Mattias Nordkvist
Swedish actor, director, and musician Mattias Nordkvist started his career in theater and has won several accolades for his performances on stage, small screen, and silver screen. In the series, he played the role of Per Skogkvist, the genealogist inspired by real-life ancestry researcher Peter Sjolund, who assisted the authorities in building the family tree of the perpetrator through DNA profiling. An eccentric genius, Per’s unique perspective of using genetic identification as a way to use the past to attain a better understanding of the present was visionary to say the least. Like most pioneering critical thinkers, Per appears almost as a misfit, given his worldview doesn’t match with others’, and as a result, living a reserved life, he is not really good with social interactions and cues. Per shares a strong bond with his daughter, Klara, who suffers from social anxiety, but unlike John, he knows to prioritize his family over anything else.
However, Per’s introverted nature doesn’t hamper his total confidence in his skills and the procedure of DNA profiling, which he wants to use for the betterment of humankind. Without Per’s assistance, there was no way for John to solve the murder mystery, and similarly, thanks to John’s offer, Per was able to use his expertise for a great purpose—bringing closure to the families of the victims by bringing the killer to justice.
Stina Eriksson, Played By Julia Sporre
Swedish actor Julia Sporre has previously appeared in The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The Square, and has starred in the miniseries Millennium (an adaptation of the Millennium book series). Her character in The Breakthrough, Stina Erikkson (with possible inspiration from real-life journalist Anna Bodin, who has co-written a book with Peter Sjolund) is an opportunist investigative journalist who simultaneously appears sympathetic to the people involved in the tragic double homicide and, at the same time, knows how to manipulate others to get her scoop. Ironically enough, it is Stina’s own cousin, Daniel, who turned out to be the culprit, and the shocking revelation allows Stina to form a more sympathetic perspective as she feels guilty for not being by the side of her loner, mentally unstable cousin when he needed support. Even with limited screen time, Stina’s arc where she goes from being a selfish journalist to trying to gain a better understanding of the mental recesses of culprits by seeking Per Skogkvist’s help in genealogy study is quite significant.Â
Miscellaneous Characters
The supporting cast of The Breakthrough, mostly constituted by the victim duo and their family members, did a splendid job to make viewers feel the tragic impact of losing loved ones. Swedish actor Anna Azcarate played the role of Gunilla (inspired by the actual victim Anna-Lena Svensson), the elderly woman who lost her life while trying to stop Adnan’s killer. Adnan (based on the 8-year-old victim Mohammed Amouri) was played by child actor Marley Norstad, who did a good job with what little screen time he was accorded. Iranian-Swedish actor Bahador Foladi played the role of Saad Abbas, father of Adnan, while Syrian-Swedish actor Helen Al-Janabi played the role of Elena, Adnan’s mother. Swedish actor Annika Hallin portrayed the character of the eyewitness, Karin, while Jonatan Rodriguez played the role of Miran, John’s superior, who helped him to stick the case through till the end.
