Where the Story Behind Apple TV’s ‘Nocturne’ Comes From

‘Nocturne’ arrived on Apple TV on Friday, October 30, as a 10 episode crime drama led by Liev Schreiber, Zazie Beetz and Stephen Graham. The first two episodes landed together, which gave viewers an early sense of the show’s tone. Almost immediately, audiences began asking where the story originated.

The origins of ‘Nocturne’ are a mix of published fiction and a significant change of setting. Understanding both helps explain why the series feels familiar to readers of Scandinavian crime novels and still new to everyone else.

Is ‘Nocturne’ Based on a Book?

The answer is yes. The ten episode series is based on the Lars Kepler novels ‘Lazarus’ and ‘The Sandman’. John Hlavin and Rowan Joffe developed the show for television and co-showrun, write and executive produce it.

Apple has presented the series as an adaptation of two books rather than one. ‘The Sandman’ was published in 2012 and ‘Lazarus’ followed in 2018, and both belong to the Joona Linna crime series. In that series ‘The Sandman’ is the fourth book and ‘Lazarus’ is the seventh.

Combining two novels written years apart gives the writers room to build a longer arc. It also means ‘Nocturne’ is not a page by page retelling of a single book.

The Lars Kepler Novels Behind the Series

Lars Kepler is not one person. The name is a pen name used by the Swedish authors Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril and Alexander Ahndoril. They are a husband and wife writing team.

The books have a wide readership. Apple says the novels have sold 20 million copies worldwide, with translations in 40 languages across more than 170 territories. That built in audience explains why the streamer chose this material.

The central figure in both source novels is the killer rather than the detective. Jurek Walter is a recurring antagonist who was first introduced in ‘The Sandman’ and is described in the novels as Sweden’s most prolific serial killer. That book begins when a young boy believed to be one of Walter’s victims unexpectedly returns home after three years.

Is ‘Nocturne’ a True Story?

The series is not based on a real case. The story does not draw from any specific real life crime, and that was a deliberate choice by the authors. It is fiction adapted from crime novels.

The authors have explained their reasoning. In an interview with Crime by the Book, they said they avoid real killers and cases because those cases involve real victims and families. That position gives the franchise a clear ethical line, and it carries over to the adaptation.

Jurek Walter is therefore an invented figure. When asked about the character’s origins, the authors said they researched many real serial killers from a psychological perspective. The result is a composite built from study rather than a portrait of any one person.

How ‘Nocturne’ Differs From the Books

The most visible change is geography. The setting moves from Sweden to the suburban town of Fairhaven, Pennsylvania, and Jurek Walter is held in a secure psychiatric hospital. Schreiber plays Jonah Lynn, a former soldier turned homicide detective who leaves Philadelphia for a quiet town in Western Pennsylvania.

The characters have been reshaped as well. In the books Joona Linna is a detective superintendent in the Swedish police and Saga Bauer works for the Swedish Security Service, while in the series Beetz plays an FBI agent who is described as his surrogate daughter. Jurek Walter and Saga Bauer keep their names, though the detective becomes Jonah Lynn.

Casting also departs from the page. In an interview with MovieZine, Hlavin said Graham was never meant to look like the killer in the books, and that the American setting did much of the work in shaping the choice. The stated goal is not an American copy of a Swedish drama but a story that finds a shared tone with its source.

The supporting cast includes Bill Camp, Rory Culkin, Chrissy Metz and Gary Carr. For readers who know the novels, the question now is whether Graham’s Jurek Walter and a Pennsylvania backdrop can match the chill of the original Swedish version, and whether you think the move works.