Netflix's 88% RT Crime Thriller Is Officially Changing Its Best Character for Season 2

Published Sep 26, 2026, 7:52 PM EDT

Kelcie Mattson is a Senior Features author at Collider. Based in the Midwest, she also contributes Lists, reviews, and television recaps. A lifelong fan of niche sci-fi, epic fantasy, Gothic horror, elaborate action, and witty detective fiction, becoming a pop culture devotee was inevitable once the Disney Renaissance, Turner Classic Movies, BBC period dramas, and her local library piqued her imagination.

Rarely seen without a book in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other, Kelcie explores media history (especially older, foreign, and independent films) as much as possible. In her spare time, she enjoys video games, amateur photography, geeking out over music, and attending fan conventions with her Trekkie family.

Although grim, stylish mystery thrillers will always have a built-in audience, it’s often difficult for a new streaming series to stand out from the pack in terms of story, creativity, and hooking an audience. Netflix's 2025 crime noir Dept. Q, based on the bestselling books by Danish author Jussi Adler-Olsen, quickly grew from a critically approved sleeper hit into a crowd-pleasing favorite. Admittedly, it's hard to go wrong with Matthew Goode's grizzled, haunted Detective Carl Morck brooding his way through Edinburgh's overcast streets, but the performer's energy and Dept. Q's production satisfactorily coalesce. The underutilized Scottish setting, the plot's tightly-wound momentum, the depth of Morck's traumatized guilt and interpersonal conflict, and the misfit chemistry between him and his two colleagues as they make the best of their basement dwelling hit all the right genre beats with flair and finesse to spare.

At this month's Bloody Scotland crime-writing festival, Goode and other returning faces — the actors behind Rose Dickson (Leah Byrne), runaway fan-favorite Akram Salim (Alexej Manvelov), and Moira Jacobson (Kate Dickie) — teased how Season 2 will keep unraveling their characters' hidden layers. At the same event, series co-creator Scott Frank (The Queen's Gambit) revealed another breakout character, Dr. Rachel Irving (Kelly Macdonald), won't return due to scheduling conflicts with Macdonald's role on HBO's Lanterns. Even though these circumstances are normal within the industry, it's still a surprising and significant loss. Rachel might hover around Dept. Q's sidelines compared to the main trio, but her crucial presence helps maintain the series' equilibrium.

As Morck's mandated therapist, Rachel provides an outsider's perspective on Season 1's investigation and enhances Dept. Q's psychological dimension. Character-wise, she performs the one-two punch necessity of reeling Morck out from behind his defenses and pushing back on his toxic reflexes. On both counts, she's the furthest thing from a conventionally passive sounding board. Rachel has long ago lost her passion for her job's predictable setbacks and makes no effort to conceal her dissatisfaction, including her exasperation with Morck. Unintimidated by her client's hostile reluctance, she more than holds her own against him; she has a zero-tolerance policy for nonsense, and her blunt insights are as direct as a baseball bat to the eyeball.

Morck's idiosyncrasies eventually charm her, and she is sympathetic to his PTSD; Rachel wants him to heal his inner demons because she's an empathetic person who, burnout and all, connects to other humans for a living. Yet she holds fast to her boundaries the second their tenuous relationship shifts beyond her comfort zone. For one, she keeps Morck accountable for every time he dives headfirst off a cliff into inappropriate behavior. Furthermore, as a professional provider who holds a considerable power imbalance over her patient, she resists their growing will-they-won't-they romantic spark. For a character like Morck, it's only natural that Rachel — to his shock — becomes the closest thing he has to a source of reliable solace.

How Will Rachel's Absence Affect 'Dept. Q' Season 2?

In that context, Rachel easily could've existed as just the overused archetype of a support system-turned-savior-turned-love-interest upon which the abrasive male antihero projects his desires and insecurities. Between telling scenes — eating her lunch during one appointment because, as the internet says, she's one hundred percent done with Morck; her vulnerability regarding her former marriage — and Macdonald's subtle combination of self-possession, dry humor, jaded weariness, genuine care, and romantic intrigue, Season 1's conclusion positions Rachel as another character with a storied inner life ready to be actively explored onscreen rather than implied. There's her cynicism, her past hurt, and her goals for the future; how Morck might evolve or regress under her supervision; and the complicated angst when their frisson of attraction turns undeniable. Morck requesting her insight has also set the precedent for Rachel lending her distinct insights to his cases; she'd fit right in with the Morck-Akram-Rose core dynamic.

Macdonald undeniably deserves her high-profile role on Lanterns. The ever-excellent actor has been a standout her entire career, from Trainspotting to Boardwalk Empire to Line of Duty and beyond. Scott Frank indicated they've left the door open for her return, although it's contingent upon her schedule's availability, should Netflix and HBO renew Dept. Q and Lanterns for another season. One hopes that Dept Q Season 2 makes the most of Rachel's absence. Will Morck feel emotionally stranded, given his outright refusal to connect with a different therapist? Without laying blame on Rachel's feet, could he regress on last season's baby-step progress as a byproduct of lacking her combination of comfort and challenge — or, since he's prone to self-sabotage, would that devolution happen regardless?

Season 2's production team might already be trying to compensate for their missing element. Comedian James Corden has reportedly been cast as forensic psychologist Dr. Ben Smith, a role that doesn't fill Rachel's shoes but lives in the same family tree. Making sight-unseen judgments is rarely fair; in this case, even Smith's best offerings won't be quite as effective as his semi-predecessor's. No matter how one slices it, losing the dangling threads of Rachel's potential individually and on a broader scale, as well as an actor of Macdonald's caliber, is a blow all around.

Dept. Q

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