The actor Kim Bodnia has spoken for the first time about leaving The Bridge in an interview with EkstraBladet, and briefly explained why he no longer wanted to be a part of the series.

Although only confirming previous speculation, Bodnia admitted that he was not happy with the journey that Martin Rhode would take in the third season so chose to leave the series.

Previously, Hans Rosenfeldt, head writer and creator of The Bridge had given his own account in an interview with Expressen:

“He really didn’t like the third season. So it was difficult. We could not move things around much with how little time remained before the start of filming. But there was no conflict. I said that we could not do big changes, and then he said, ‘you know what, I think you can do it without me.'”

“The plot is the same, the crime story is the same. Martin’s part in the investigation and his personal strand – that was what we had to rewrite.”

“It forced us to think, what is The Bridge without Martin? What is the DNA of The Bridge if he’s not in it? It actually brought more energy to it, because we had to think outside the box. It was kind of a blessing in disguise.”

Sofia Helin says that she tried to draw positives from the changes imposed upon the series:

“It was a process that led us to go another way. It is clear that an exciting and intense partnership ended there, but I have also been able to use that a lot in character… Saga became so abandoned and alone.”