20-06-2025
Why The Internet Is Obsessing Over 'Dept. Q's' Alexej Manvelov Who Plays Akram
Dept Q is one of those few shows that is stacked with a knockout cast. You might've come for Matthew Goode, Chloe Pirrie or Kelly Macdonald - and rightfully so, but we'd have no qualms if you finished the series thinking breakout star Alexej Manvelov who portrayed Akram was your favourite character.
Just shy of a month since its release, it is evident that the world still cannot get enough of Netflix's Dept. Q. Still going strong, it has held a top 10 spot in Netflix TV series' since premiering on May 29.
But of course, what was not to love? The combination of an emotionally tortured yet highly skilled police detective tasked with the responsibility of forming a cold case unit against the backdrop of Edinburgh and Lothian's moodiness (and of course, those interiors throughout the series) makes for the perfect crime solving settings in this adapted Nordic noir.
One of the series' main characters, Akram is first introduced to viewers as a quiet and obedient Syrian expat working in Department Q as Detective Carl Morck's assistant. While he might have had a mysterious air about him in the first episode, it was easy to overlook Akram as an uninteresting assistant aiming to impress - through willingness to help Carl sift through case files and offering his colleagues (Rose) a sweet treat that was supposedly made by his wife, we don't expect to get much out Akram.
However, this all changes in the second episode when we see Carl interrup Akram's prayers. A quiet frustration takes over his face, yet he does not verbally express this to Carl, until the final moments of the episode, when he calmly, yet firm states, 'Carl when I am praying, don't interrupt me,' after helping ease his boss out of an anxiety attack.
Beyond this, as the episodes go on, Akram's charming and personable nature as compared to Carl's is also an added factor in him becoming one of our favourite characters in the series.
In an interivew with The Upcoming, Manvelov touched on Akram's evasive nature. 'He's multi-layered, with the backstory we came up with makes him a mystery, but also very human.'
While the mystery of what his job was previously in Syria remains a mystery for the entirety of the series, it comes to a head for the first time in episode six when Akram pays Edmund a visit, and uses physical violence to get answers out of him. Even after Edmund threatening to kill Akram, as polite and calm as ever, he responds, 'Okay. But in the meantime, please tell me who you work for,' all while crushing his already broken femur and maintaining his usual stoic mannerisms and facial expressions.
It's at this point exactly, were we really begin to wonder, who on earth is Akram? Prior to this, while questioning a group of drug addicts who get violent, Akram manages to escape the situation, unharmed, despite leaving one of the drug addicts hospitalised with a crushed windpipe.
Even by the end of the series, the truth about Akram's former profession and the mysterious death of his wife is never answered, which only adds to the build up of season two, and naturally we're left in awe and slight fear of this mysterious and impressively dangerous man, but even more so by Manvelov's enigmatic and chilling performance.
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