In software development, there are two dominant management methodologies: waterfall and agile. In the former, the desired outcome decides how the work is achieved – we want to make a compelling murder mystery, Disney+ might say; how do we do that? – but with agile there is more stakeholder involvement, more iteration. Could it be a bit more Agatha Christie? Perhaps a touch of Scandi noir? Shall we throw in a locked room? It is this latter approach that seems to take the lead in the streaming platform’s new techno-whodunnit, A Murder at the End of the World.
Emma Corrin – The Crown’s original Princess Diana – is Darby Hart, a computer hacker and true crime author. She has just published a book about taking down a cold case serial killer alongside Bill (Harris Dickinson) an artistic fellow sleuth from Reddit. “It’s really hard to fall in love for the first time while tracking a serial killer,” she muses, wistfully. But six years later they’re estranged – that is until they both show up at the Icelandic retreat of tech visionary Andy Ronson (Clive Owen). Among the guests at a futuristic hotel in the tundra are Andy’s wife Lee (“the greatest female coder in history,” played by Brit Marling), an irritating millennial filmmaker (Jermaine Fowler), an over-accomplished doctor (Alice Braga) and a host of other luminaries. With all these bright sparks in one place, what could go wrong?
