Will reprise their roles in the fourth and last Department Q film, The Purity of Vengeance directed by Christoffer Boe for Zentropa.

The actors were at the Film i Väst press lunch on Sunday in Cannes. 

How does it feel to say goodbye to the Department Q series?
Nikolaj Lie Kaas: It’s both sad and a relief in a way. We always knew it was going to be four films. At the beginning it felt a bit stretched and long, but then because my relationship with Fares develops and becomes heart-warming, it was a wonderful experience.

Fares Fares: We’ve had a wonderful journey. With a new director, new energy, it feels like a perfect way to say goodbye.

How was it to work with different directors on the same series of crime films?
FF: It was great that Mikkel Nørgaard did the first two films because he really established the universe and the characters. But with different directors, you get re-energised and it’s like making new movies.
NLK: We’ve being so much part of the decision making process, so we knew exactly where we were going.
FF: With TV shows you change directors every 20 days so it can be confusing, but here it’s been very different with each director. Also, with TV shows you shoot all the time, whereas here, you take good pauses between each film.

What’s next for both of you?
NLK: For the past six months I’ve been doing the US/UK show Britannia [Sky UK/Amazon] in Prague, playing a rogue druid. It’s been an amazing experience, something I had never done before and one of the best parts I’ve done in my life. It’s coming out in September.
FF: I’ve done the Swedish film The Nile Hilton Incident that won the Grand Jury Prize in Sundance. It will premiere first in France on July 12.

There is a wide range of opportunities today for actors who can work in film and TV drama, in Scandinavia and internationally. You must love it…
NLK:  It’s cool now to discuss TV series amongst friends. You talk about TV shows the way you used to talk about movies 10 years ago. In terms of storytelling, the wide spectrum of characterisation is indeed a great opportunity for any actor. In TV shows characters tend to be like in real life, they evolve constantly and don’t necessarily find answers to their problems, whereas in a film, a character with problems has an epiphany and everything gets solved.

FF: As an actor, you always want to be challenged and work with good material. Before, I was working mainly in Sweden, but now I work in Denmark, the US etc. It’s brilliant because hopefully you can pick and choose better projects and only the stuff that you really want to do.