Scott Frank and the cast took a rare day off from filming Season 2 to show up at the Albert Halls in Stirling, and they gave more than they probably intended to.

The Edinburgh-set Netflix crime series Bloody Scotland wrapped on Sunday with a packed panel chaired by executive producer Rob Bullock, joined by writer-director Scott Frank and stars Matthew Goode (DCI Karl Mörk), Kate Dickie (Chief Supervisor Moira Jacobson), Alexei Manfilov (Akram Selim) and Leah Byrne (DC Rose Dixon). We attended what’s on Netflix in the virtual session, and here’s what we learned about the show’s response and the anticipated return.

Bullock opened by thanking the cast for ever being there: “We’re 15 weeks into the 20-week shoot. It’s long hours and exhausting, and we’re actually in the middle of a night shoot as well.”

Bullock’s “15 weeks of filming for 20 weeks” is a useful data point in the timeline. Early production listings had principal photography beginning July 13 and continuing through December 11, but we reported in June that cameras It actually rolled from around June 1stwith casting calls indicating an end on October 11. Counting as of June 1, Sunday was the 111th day of filming – approximately 16 weeks – which falls in line with the October cover rather than the December cover. This makes a second-half 2025 release the most realistic target.

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Teases season 2

When asked directly what he could tell us about Season 2, Frank gave a somewhat joking answer, “Nothing. It’s bullshit.” He later expanded on that a bit: “Season two will be fine, okay. You’ll enjoy it, and you can fold your laundry while you watch it.”

The most significant harassment came from Goode, and concerned Akram. “That’s the interesting thing about Season 2 – all of a sudden you start getting scripts and you’re like, ‘Oh my God.’ You start getting to know Akram and you feel amazing… Those of you who love the show, you’re going to go to [be in] For absolute treatment.

For his part, Manfilov described the character as a man who hides in plain sight: “You have to be the opposite of crazy Karl. So Akram must be secretly crazy. But on the surface, he seems calm.” He added that the entire team “deals with trauma… but they do it in different ways. This is an aspect of a person who actually thinks he’s already dealt with that trauma. He screamed so hard, it’s all over. And now he’s the fixed point of gravity for the rest of the group. But of course, inside, he’s angry.”

Moira exits the office as well. “Moira didn’t leave the office much in season one,” Dickie noted, before we were given the stage confirmation that we were visiting her apartment this season. She also reported shooting “a very exciting couple of hours where I sat in a helicopter.” Dickie teases that we’ll get to see Moira outside of her natural habitat, saying: “You go into her apartment this season. Yeah, you might see a little bit of my whole life.”

Regarding locations, Frank confirmed that production has moved: “We shot a little bit in Aberdeen this time that way. We shot a lot of Edinburgh this time, but a lot of the show was on set.”

Regarding Kelly MacDonald, who played Dr. Rachel Irving, Carl’s therapist, Frank was blunt: “She’s doing another show. She’s doing it.” Lanternsso our show and their show couldn’t make it work. But it may come back. We never know. It depends on how her career goes on the other show.

Another thing to worry about: Frank is still writing. When asked if he was a plotter or a pantser, he said, “Since you’ve been waiting for the final episode for six months for me to finish writing it, and seeing as we started filming last season with two written episodes and we were building the plane while we were flying it, I’m definitely a pantser.”

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The cast talks about why the show connects

Frank claims he doesn’t know, and says he’s not trying to know: “I never think anything is going to happen. I never think anything is going to work out or be good. So I choose to be pleasantly surprised rather than be sorely disappointed.” After some urging, he offered a theory: “Sometimes, when you tell a story, the story is true in itself. The story is told from the inside out. The story is told by the characters and people get into the characters and want what they want.” The mystery, he said, is “sugar.”

It’s in keeping with his rule for the genre: “The crime is not as important as the cause of the crime.” He also has speed crits. “I’ve been accused of taking too much time on pilots or first episodes. But I want you to know the characters, because if you know them, you’ll feel something at the end of the show.”

Dickey credited the depth of even smaller roles: “When you have really great characters written as the main character, but then you have kind of surrounding things that aren’t as well-written, it’s very difficult to immerse yourself in…You’re not just surface on the page. You engage, you become immersed, you start to care.”

The scripts were sent to Goode by Joel, his agent of 20 years, and the reaction was immediate. “I read it and I felt like the dialogue was so good. And this character of Carl…it’s outrageous. It’s like looking in a mirror.” He said that he usually postpones until the scripts are finished, but not this time: “I try not to start playing the character before I read the scripts, but with Karl, I really started trying him on for size.” The source material concluded – “It’s not like I get offers for this kind of thing all the time. So I said, yeah, I’m very interested. And 10 books too. Very interested.” This points to the fact that the series could continue for a long time, and he later hinted that he is interested in doing a third season later on the board.

Bullock backed it up with Netflix’s own audience research, which he sat on. “They were kind of saying, yeah, sure, I want to know why Merit Lingard was kept in that room… but what I really want to know is, is Karl going to stop being such an asshole to Akram? Will this relationship blossom? Will Rose find the courage to come forward? How is Moira going to manage this bag of cats that she has to manage? People really liked the characters.”

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Scott Frank talks about working with Netflix

Asked how he was able to deliver two shows so heavy on nuance on a streamer known for wanting the opposite, Frank initially joked, “That’s what I do in every part of my life. That’s why I’ve been so happily married for 38 years. I just say, honey, I’m Scott Frank and I get what I want.”

Then he got serious, and went back to atheistNetflix’s first in-house miniseries, and Cindy Holland’s pitch for it at the time: “We’ll agree on all the parameters…but we trust you. We’re hiring you and giving you all this money because we trust you.” The same thing was held The Queen’s GambitHe said: “They never forced me to do anything that I remember.”

He also took the opportunity to kill a very persistent theory about Netflix’s cavalier practices of dictating things like lighting. “There’s a lot written about Netflix, you know, they change the lighting, and there’s Netflix lighting, there’s this — none of that is true. If a show is poorly lit, it’s because the director and the cinematographer lit it badly. No one upstairs says, you know, lit it badly.”

In his view, what makes it successful is agreement up front: “Everyone agrees on the intention, and if everyone agrees on the intention, the process becomes much easier. Then you’re just fighting about budget and time and how long it takes to achieve that intention.” Work on Section S He added that his involvement with Netflix UK, specifically now under Anne Mensah, “has been one of the best experiences I’ve ever had.”

Bullock followed with a story from the Season 2 reunion. Before anyone could talk about the new season, Frank told the room he wanted to talk about the first season — “I’d like to hear from you about what you thought was really successful and what you really liked about the first season.” Netflix then spent 20 minutes praising the show for him, and then at the end, Frank said the equivalent of we’ll be doing all that and more in season two.