This November, Starz delivers a chilling crime story akin to HBO’s True Detective with Dublin Murders, as evidenced by the first full trailer. Gritty crime stories have always had their place on television, but in recent years it seems more and more cable and premium channels have been getting into the game by giving their murder dramas a prestige makeover. That’s more or less true of True Detective, and a similar case could be argued for the likes of The Sinner, American Crime Story, and of course, Netflix’s superlative Mindhunter.
Starz’s Dublin Murders has many of the same signifiers as the series mentioned above, but, perhaps due to its setting and potentially traumatized lead detectives, it feels similar to gritty detective series like Hinterland and Shetland as well. It also has the benefit of being adapted from author Tana French’s “Dublin Murder Squad” series of novels, particularly ‘In the Woods’ and ‘The Likeness.’
But regardless the series’ source material, it would seem Starz is going all out with its new murder drama, as the first full trailer is practically wall-to-wall with disturbing imagery and nearly suffocating atmosphere. Add to that the intense performances from Sarah Greene (Penny Dreadful) and Killian Scott (Ripper Street), and it would seem the premium channel has a bleakly entertaining thriller on its hands. Check out the full trailer and a brief synopsis below:
“Set during the height of the Celtic Tiger financial boom of the millennium, “Dublin Murders” focuses on two murder investigations led by ambitious and charismatic detectives Rob Reilly (Killian Scott of The Commuter, “Ripper Street”) and Cassie Maddox (Sarah Greene of “Penny Dreadful,” “Ransom”). The victims are seemingly unrelated, but as audiences will discover, they are knitted together by powerful shared themes - the macabre “red in tooth and claw” elements of both stories and their heart-thumping psychological thriller qualities.”
The series also includes Game of Thrones’ Conleth Hill as the detectives’ supervisor, who also happens to have a full head of hair. But what’s a cop show without a surly overseer ready to yell when his detectives have clearly erred in some way or another? Still, Hill’s presence lends a certain level of prestige on its own, given his time as Varys on perhaps the biggest show in TV history. All in all, though, it appears as if Dublin Murders will earn its fair share of comparisons with HBO’s on-again, off-again cop drama, especially the recently Emmy-nominated third season, which also centered on a case of missing children spanning years.
Dublin Murders premieres Sunday, November 10 @8pm on Starz.