How many episodes are in Netflix’s Dept. Q? Explained

The new crime thriller show, Dept. Q, which premiered on May 29, 2025, is about a smart but emotionally scarred detective who takes on cold cases in a brand-new police department. There are 9 episodes of the show, and each one reveals more of a scary mystery.

The story is about DCI Carl Morck, a top detective with bad social skills, who is sent to Dept. Q after surviving a terrible shooting. At first, it's just a show department to keep the public happy, but it quickly turns into a center for real investigations.

Carl reopens the case of Merritt Lingard, a prosecutor who went missing years ago, with the help of civilian Akram and Detective Rose. They find a web of secrets, lies, and buried guilt.

As the episodes go on, they take viewers on a thrilling ride through unsolved crimes, personal trauma, and deep plots that are hidden from the public eye.

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How many episodes are there in the new crime thriller Dept. Q?

The first season of Netflix's Dept. Q has a total of nine episodes. Each episode lasts between 42 and 71 minutes, so you can watch a lot of them at once.

The show aired on May 29, 2025. It is produced by a team of experienced professionals led by Scott Frank, Andy Harries, and Rob Bullock. The nine episodes slowly build from a simple, clear-cut cold case to a suspenseful psychological thriller. Together, they tell a complicated and emotional crime story.

Each episode of the show slowly reveals more about the main case while also going into more detail about the characters' pasts and inner struggles. With each chapter, readers are taken deeper into a world of crimes that have been forgotten, hidden motives, and guilt that has been pushed down for a long time.

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The story behind Netflix’s Dept. Q

The story of Dept. Q starts with a scary event in Leith Park. Carl Morck and James Hardy, detectives, answer a call for help but end up walking into a trap. A man in a mask with a gun shoots them and their coworker, Officer Anderson.

While Hardy is paralyzed, Anderson dies on the spot, and Carl lives but is deeply traumatized. Carl is moved to Department Q, a cold case unit in the basement, so he can't do much without getting fired.

This forgotten department is meant to be a public relations move, but it becomes something much more when Carl begins working with Akram Salim, a Syrian refugee hired as his assistant.

Akram has a unique intuition and attention to detail, which is why he wants to reopen the case of Merritt Lingard, a respected prosecutor who went missing four years ago and hasn't been seen or heard from since.

Carl starts to look into Merritt's past with the help of Akram and then Detective Rose Dickson. A simple cold case quickly turns into something much scarier. They find that Merritt is still alive and being held by Ailsa Jennings and Lyle, her mentally ill son, in a high-pressure hyperbaric chamber. They blame Merritt for things that happened in their childhood in the small town of Mhor, like Lyle's brother Harry's death.

As Carl and his team try to find Merritt, they find a different web of corruption involving her last court case before she went missing. In this case, a rich man named Graham Finch was charged with killing his wife but got away with it. Since the team works on the puzzle, the lines between their pain and job duties become less clear.

Ultimately, the case tests Carl's resolve and gives him a renewed sense of purpose. When he saves Merritt, he faces his guilt and finds forgiveness in a place where old cases are buried.

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Dept. Q is available to stream on Netflix.