Second coming of the holy man

Following a so-so Hollywood film adaptation of his bestselling Harry Hole detective novels, Norwegian crime writing superstar Jo Nesbo has taken the reins for a Netflix reboot later this month and it's already being described as the streamer's next big binge-worthy drama

- Jon Coates

THE actor bringing troubled but brilliant detective Harry Hole to life in a must-watch new Netflix drama nearly did not get the role — because he came across as too "nice" and too "good-looking" in his first casting.

Author Jo Nesbo, who has adapted the screenplay for the nine-part TV drama from his bestselling books and is also the series’ showrunner, admits he and director Oystein Karlsen were unimpressed by a tape of its star Tobias Santelmann.

So much so that Karlsen told the actor to accept another role he had been offered, while awaiting their final decision, which would have ruled him out from portraying one of crime fiction’s most iconic and damaged detectives.

“We had Tobias Santelmann top of our list to play Harry, Oystein and I, so we had him do a tape based on part of the script... and it was underwhelming,” Nesbo, 65, admitted.

“It was like he was too nice, he was too soft and he was way too good-looking.

“He is a great actor but he did not nail it, so we were kind of surprised and a bit disappointed.

“So we went through other brilliant actors and we had almost decided, and then Oystein said, ‘Why don’t we have Tobias have one more go at it?” He came in for a screen test with a script he had rehearsed and another actor that he would play against, with costumes and camera, and then he was just so brilliant. He did not know this but before he was even out of the door Oystein and I looked at each other and said, ‘Yes, that’s Harry’.”