Breaking Down the Ending of Netflix’s Latest Swedish Crime Drama The Åre Murders

The Netflix series The Åre Murders, based on the book series by Swedish author Viveca Sten, revolves around two murders that deeply shake the titular Swedish town. The protagonist, Hanna Ahlander, is a Stockholm police officer who has recently been suspended from the police force and abandoned by her boyfriend. She seeks to escape her problems by isolating herself at her sister’s vacation home in Åre. But when a young woman goes missing on a freezing night, Hanna can’t resist getting involved and decides to investigate the case, teaming up with the lead investigator from the town, Daniel Lindskog. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

The Åre Murders, which premiered globally on Netflix with five episodes, begins with the promise of a simple murder mystery but evolves into a study of the choices and consequences faced by characters who are all, at their core, driven by secrets and guilt. Let’s dive into the finale of this intriguing series and break down how it all shakes out for Hanna, Daniel, and the subjects of their investigation.

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Two murders, two investigators

The series presents two killings that, while equally devastating to the loves ones left in their wake, have entirely different motivations. The first three episodes explore the disappearance and death of young Amanda, who vanishes on her way home after leaving a party. Meanwhile, the last two episodes focus on the murder of former skier Johan Andersson, which happens weeks after Amanda’s disappearance, with no apparent connection between the two. The second murder takes place months after the first, and this shift in focus adds an intriguing layer to the narrative, as the show moves from resolving one tragedy to uncovering another, each with its own set of complex emotions and motivations.

While Hanna seeks an escape from the problems in her daily life, Daniel, the lead investigator on the case, is struggling with his own family issues and a lack of resources at the local police station, all of which force him to accept Hanna’s help. Daniel’s wife recently had a baby, and they are constantly arguing because Daniel is always working, leaving him with little time for his family or their daughter. The tension at home only adds to the pressure he feels at work. His partnership with Hanna becomes tense as mutual distrust lingers, and both must decide whether they can rely on each other while searching for answers about the disappearance.

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Amanda’s disappearance and death

Seventeen-year-old Amanda disappears on the same night that Hanna arrives in town. After trying to call her father, Harald—who doesn’t answer because he is having an affair with a coworker—Amanda leaves her friend Ebba’s house and heads home alone on her bike. Before reaching the road, she speaks on the phone with someone—later revealed to be Zuhra, a woman who works as a cleaner at Amanda’s home and other houses in town.

When the police begin their search, they find Amanda’s bike near a property. Hanna, who has by this point joined the search efforts, talks to a woman who once dated Amanda’s current boyfriend, Viktor Malm, who had previously been sentenced and given a warning for assault as a teenager. However, his alibi is quickly confirmed, ruling him out as a suspect. Amanda’s body is later found at a ski resort, and Hanna—despite being on leave—temporarily joins the local police force to work on the case. Amanda’s cause of death is determined to be strangulation, and the series soon presents other possible suspects: the older man Ebba was involved with and the husband of Harald’s mistress, Mira.

Ebba had been seeing her teacher, Lasse Sandahl, and had sent intimate photos to him at his request—which clearly upset Amanda when she found out. Amanda had messaged Lasse, telling him to stay away from Ebba and warning him that she would report him. On the night of her disappearance, Lasse was parked near the party, raising police suspicion.

As the police search for Lasse, he approaches Ebba while she is Christmas shopping at a street fair and forces her into his car despite her attempts to resist. He takes her to his house and intimidates her, warning her that no one can know about their relationship and saying he hopes she hasn’t told anyone. When the police arrive at his home, Lasse threatens Ebba, saying he will leak her intimate photos to everyone at school if she says anything. Fortunately, the police manage to intervene and rescue Ebba. At the station, Lasse denies killing Amanda and claims she was selling expensive items, such as alcohol, watches, and a bracelet he had given to Ebba. Despite his abusive relationship with Ebba, he was not Amanda’s killer.

Mira’s husband also becomes a plausible suspect. He discovers his wife’s affair with Harald when he finds Harald’s phone in her car. For Amanda’s father, this seems like more than enough motive for him to kill Amanda as an act of revenge. However, when the police confront Mira’s husband at his workplace, they confirm that he, too, has a solid alibi. Although he didn’t kill Amanda, he confesses to another crime: he poisoned the family’s dog, which had been found dead outside their home.

Who killed Amanda?

After hitting dead ends with many suspects and theories, the police finally uncover the truth behind Amanda’s murder. At Amanda’s home, Hanna discovers that Zuhra, the cleaning service worker with whom Amanda had spoken before she disappeared, not only worked there but also cleaned the cabin where Hanna was staying, owned by her sister. Hanna visits the home of the cleaning company owner, Annika Risberg, but only finds her husband, Bosse, the CEO of a Missing Persons NGO. Hanna mentions that they are investigating reports of thefts, made by tourists, and are speaking with cleaning service providers.

Hanna believes the cleaning company is somehow connected to Amanda’s death—and she couldn’t be more right. The company’s logo matches the one she saw on an envelope containing cash in Amanda’s room. Hanna tells Daniel that Zuhra and Amanda knew each other and that she had noticed Zuhra with a black eye. Hanna suspects that Zuhra steals items from clients’ homes.

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Zuhra, it turns out, had come to town to work and send money back to her family, but she ended up drowning in debt while working for Fjällstäd, the cleaning company. As a result, she stole items from Amanda’s house to sell, which Amanda eventually discovered. Amanda then took the stolen goods, sold them herself, and sent the money to Zuhra’s mother. Amanda wasn’t angry with Zuhra when she found out about her thefts. On the contrary, she felt compassion and even helped her.

When Amanda spoke to Zuhra on the phone after leaving Ebba’s party, they had been discussing Zuhra’s passport, which had been withheld but which Amanda had promised to retrieve.  Zuhra insisted they stop what they were doing.

After Zuhra confesses everything to Hanna, Bosse breaks into Zuhra’s home with a gun, after realizing she was robbing tourists who were clients of the company. The gun accidentally goes off and hits Zuhra. Bosse then flees in his car, and Hanna chases him. In the end, the police catch Bosse as he tries to escape, and he confesses to Amanda’s murder.

To back up a few steps: Amanda, we soon learn, had gone to Bosse’s house after the party to demand Zuhra’s passport. She confronted him, stating that what he was doing was human trafficking and forced labor. Annika’s company had been struggling financially, so Bosse took over the finances, leading to criminal practices including the very human trafficking of which Amanda was accusing him.

When Amanda was alone on the road with her bike, Bosse stopped his car behind her, and she approached as he asked to talk. He offered to drive her home, put her bike in the trunk, and then took a different route. He tried to convince Amanda that he was helping Zuhra and her family, but Amanda wasn’t buying it. She told him he thought he could get away with anything, but that he was done for. When Amanda attempted to leave the car, Bosse grabbed her and strangled her.

The death of Johan

The fourth episode introduces the murder case of former skier Johan Andersson, 35, co-owner of JL Events, whose disassembled body parts had been found near train tracks. The cause of death was determined to be a violent blow to the head with a blunt or flat object. At Johan’s wife’s house, Marion told the police that she had called them to report that her husband had not returned home. The police also spoke with Marion’s son, Leo, as well as her ex-husband and Leo’s biological father, Jens. According to Marion and Leo, they had gone to a concert in another city, then stayed overnight at a hotel before returning home the next day. Johan was not home when they arrived, but Marion mentioned that he sometimes spent the night at his office and that he was supposed to meet a friend, Carl Willner.

When Hanna and another officer, Anton, go to speak with Johan’s friend, Anton realizes that Carl is the same man he met at a club and had a sexual encounter with. He pretends not to recognize him. According to Carl, Johan had gone to his restaurant to cancel their dinner plans and then left.

As the investigation continues, one name emerges as a suspect: Pastor Ole Nordhammar, whom Johan’s business partner, Linus, claimed the ex-skier disliked. At first glance, Ole is an odd man—he even prevents his wife from introducing herself to officers Hanna and Daniel. This alone, of course, is not enough to pin Johan’s murder on him. But a betrayal could change everything—or not.

The betrayal and the guilty party

When Hanna returns to Pastor Ole’s house, she insists on speaking with his wife, Rebecka. Hanna knows Rebecka is trapped in an unhealthy relationship and offers to help her escape, which she tearfully accepts. The police put Rebecka up in a hotel, where she receives a call from Ole. He begs her not to say anything to the authorities and promises to be a better man. Rebecka ignores him, but he overhears someone mentioning the hotel’s name over the phone. In her statement to Hanna, Rebecka reveals that she met Johan while working on the development of a community college for biblical studies. Rebecka and Johan fell in love, and began secretly meeting without Ole suspecting anything. Johan was aware that Ole was abusive toward Rebecka, and after finding out she was pregnant with his child, he promised to get Ole out of her life. But he never called or showed up again.

Ole goes to the hotel where Rebecka is staying and gets her out by triggering a fire alarm. He takes her to an abandoned factory, but the police quickly locate them. Rebecka manages to escape after hitting Ole with a wooden plank, and a chase ensues. When he catches up with her in the snow, Hanna intervenes, ordering him to stop. However, Ole grabs a rock to kill Rebecka, prompting Daniel to shoot him. Ole dies, and Rebecka is saved. 

After Ole’s death, his alibi is confirmed, and a new clue emerges: Officer Anton notices that the taillight of Carl Willner’s restaurant delivery car is broken, matching the description of a vehicle seen near the crime scene. However, he only realizes this after going home—after another sexual encounter with Carl. Anton informs Hanna about the clue but asks her to keep his sexuality a secret. As he puts it to her, being openly gay in the police force isn’t always easy.

With the lead on the car, all signs point to Carl, who appears to have been the last person to see Johan alive. But appearances, of course, aren’t everything. Anton calls Hanna, who had interrogated Carl, and reveals that Jens Wernolf, Leo’s father, had actually taken the restaurant’s delivery car on the night of Johan Andersson’s murder. As Marion is packing her bags, she tells Hanna that she, Leo, and Jens are going to stay with her parents for a few days. The police take Jens in for questioning, and Hanna receives new information from Daniel: The opening act of the concert Marion claimed started at 7 p.m. never happened because it was canceled. Instead, the main concert started at 9 p.m.

Hanna looks around Marion’s house and sees a photo of Johan, in which colorful curtains are visible in the background. Those curtains are no longer in the house. Hanna questions Marion about this, as well as about the opening act that never took place. Things escalate when Leo enters the room and breaks down, saying he can’t take it anymore. He runs outside and onto the train tracks, and everything is revealed at that moment.

Marion and Johan had argued because Johan planned to leave her and Leo to be with Rebecka. Leo overheard the argument, and when Johan went to his car, Leo grabbed a shovel and struck him on the head. Johan collapsed, bleeding. Marion and Jens then took Johan’s body in Carl’s restaurant car and placed it on the train tracks, where a passing train dismembered his body. Afterward, Marion and Leo established their alibi. They attended a concert in another city, claiming the opening act started at 7 p.m.—but that wasn’t exactly true. Back in the present, Marion tells Hanna that Leo didn’t kill his stepfather intentionally. When they hear the sound of an approaching train, Leo pushes his mother away and steps onto the tracks, intending to be hit and killed. However, Hanna saves him just in time.

How does The Åre Murders end?

The police take Marion and Leo to the station, closing another murder case. In the end, it becomes clear that the cases have no direct connection. With the cases solved, everything seems to fall back into place. Officer Anton goes to Carl’s restaurant and smiles at him, while Officer Daniel finally talks to his wife after so many arguments. When Hanna calls him, he ignores the call, telling his wife that the station can manage without him.

But we know that Hanna’s call wasn’t about work. Over the course of the five episodes, she and Daniel had grown closer, with romantic tension building at the station—only for Daniel to put an end to it. The Åre Murders ends with Hanna standing alone on the balcony of the cabin where she is staying, gazing out at the view. In a way, everything ends just as it began. Hanna is alone, just like at the start of the series—but this time, with an even heavier heart than she started with. The quiet of the landscape around her contrasts sharply with the turmoil within, leaving her to confront the confusion of it all, unsure of what comes next.