A Chat With Camilla Läckberg, “The Queen of Swedish Noir,” on Her Film and TV Work and Her Dreams of “Conquering America”

If you think Swedish crime writer and screenwriter Camilla Läckberg needs no introduction, you are likely one of the people who have contributed to the tally of more than 35 million copies of her books sold in more than 60 countries and/or watched one of her series. If you don’t know her work yet, you may do so soon.

Since earlier this week, her North American fans can watch the six-episode series Camilla Läckberg’s Erica on Kino Lorber’s subscription streamer MHz Choice, which exclusively acquired the French hit series from Studio TF1 (where it is simply called Erica) for the US and Canada. The show is the first French-language adaptation of her best-selling Swedish mysteries. It covers stories from three novels in Läckberg’s popular Fjällbacka series about a husband-and-wife crime-fighting duo. The three stories covered are The Ice Princess, The Preacherand The Stonecutter.

Camilla Läckberg’s Erica marks the third adaptation of the hit writer for MHz Choice after the Swedish crime drama Camilla Läckberg’s Fjallbacka Murders and the older series Camilla Läckberg.

In the new series, Julie De Bona (The Count of Monte Cristo) stars as the titular Erica. Grégory Fitoussi (Nine Perfect Strangers) plays police captain Patrick Saab. The show follows successful crime writer Erica returning to her hometown to find her friend Alexandra dead. Everyone is convinced it was suicide, except for Erica, who launches an investigation.

THR reached out to Läckberg for an email Q&A with her about her work, her future plans, her appearances in Swedish TV dancing and singing competitions and her family’s own reality show, plus her Hollywood dreams.

Camilla, you have earned the nickname “The Queen of Swedish Noir,” but have found global success with your novels and now also series, such as Camilla Läckberg’s Erica series on MHz and The Glass Dome on Netflix. Why do you think your Sweden-set stories have such global appeal? And do you now write with a global audience in mind or not?

I am very happy that my stories are traveling all over the world. It is a very special feeling. But I never have an audience in mind when I write, I think it would hinder my creativity if I tried to adapt my stories in any way for someone else.

What was your reaction when you heard about the idea to bring Erica to France for the series and then stream it in North America? Was there any challenge to transition your characters to a different country and culture?

I loved the idea of ​​Erica going French. But of course, changes have to be made – a different location, some names have changed, and there is also a French “flair” to that version. I do feel, though, that I still recognize my characters and stories very well; they have just gotten a touch of France.

I heard there is an Italian adaptation of the show in development, too. What can you share about that and how different from the French series it will be?

During the autumn, I visited the set of the Italian adaptation, and it was an amazing experience. It is definitely different from the French version, distinctly Italian, but as with the French version, I still recognized my universe.

Can your fans expect that you will continue to bring your stories to TV or maybe even film? Why is that interesting for you and what projects do you currently have in the works?

Working with TV and film have become a passion, sprung out of my decades-long passion for writing books. I am currently working on several projects for film and TV – nothing I can speak of yet, but hopefully, there will be more coming from me in the coming years.

Do you have plans for more original stories created specifically for series, such as The Glass Domeor do you want to focus more on bringing your books to life?

For me, it’s a privilege to be able to do both. I am continuing to write books, but also at the same time working on limited series, and also film. I just simply love storytelling, in any shape or form.

How closely do you work with producers to get your characters and tone right in series and films? And do you still do such work through Bad Flamingo Studios – and what can you tell us about the studio?

Very closely. I am deeply engaged all through the project, and I am always in the writers’ rooms. For me, it’s important that my ideas don’t get sidetracked along the way by all the voices involved, so I always have quite a firm grip on the creative development.

Currently, I am co-owner in two production companies, Creative Society, [which]among other things, produced The Glass Dome. And also Bad Flamingo, where our latest project is a movie set in Kenya. It is called The Dog and has received several nominations and awards at different film festivals around the world. One of my co-owners of Bad Flamingo is the actor Alexander Karim, who starred in Gladiator II and he also has the leading role in The Dog.

I heard you were on the Swedish version of Dancing With the Stars? How was that experience, and could we see more of you on screen, maybe in Hitchcock-style cameos in your series?

Doing Dancing With the Stars in 2012 is still one of the most fun things I have ever done in my life. I ended up in fourth place, but became so obsessed with dancing, so I did two pro/am competitions in Latin dance after that – 2013 in New York and 2015 in Boston.

Since Dancing With the StarsI have done other TV shows, for example, Masked Singer in 2023 and also cameos in the two soap opera TV series I have done for Swedish TV. I would absolutely love to also at some point in my career do an actual acting role – and who knows what will happen in the future.

My biggest dream, however, is to write something, [for] TV or film, that gets done in America. I mean – who doesn’t dream of Hollywood…

Is there anything else you would like to share about your growing treasure trove of novels, series and more or anything else?

The adaptation of my books and ideas for international TV is a huge, big new road opening up in my career, and I absolutely love it. It was also extremely thrilling to watch The Glass Dome climbing the charts all over the world on Netflix and getting positive reviews in big, international magazines and newspapers.

Last year, I also had two other new big things coming out. My children’s book series Super Charlie premiered in cinemas as an animated movie and was then sold to over 50 countries. And my family and I got our own reality show, The Läckbergs.

So I’m very much looking forward to what may come in 2026. As I said – Hollywood and conquering America have been my dream, my holy grail, for decades.