Krister Henriksson Speaks Of Losing Wallander Co-Star
In Nemo Hedéns podcast, Nemo Meets A Friend, Krister Henriksson reveals that he needed therapy to help process the loss of his onscreen daughter Johanna Sällström (Linda Wallander), who committed suicide in 2007 at the age of 32.
Krister Henriksson says: “We had a very complicated relationship, I became a kind of father figure for her. I think she was amazing, but there was something bothering her, some unhappiness.”
Nemo asks if he knew how bad Sällström felt, and Henriksson replies: “In retrospect, I can say yes, I knew all along how she felt. But while she was alive, I wasn’t conscious of it.”
“It badly affected my conscience so I went into therapy. I asked myself why I had not stepped in, but realised that there was nothing I could do.”
“When someone passes away, whether it is one’s mother or father or friend, you usually get a sense of guilt. I thought that maybe I was mean to her, for example, on the film set when I was annoyed. Maybe I said something lousy to her. I don’t remember doing it, but you think that you did.”
“I took it so very badly when Johanna passed, whom I loved so deeply. We really had a father and daughter relationship… She was my daughter. And I was her father… When I got the call I knew it somehow, she was gone.”
After Johanna Sällström’s death, Henriksson sat down and watched the twelve Wallander films that he had made so far, but was quite disappointed with them. For some time he felt that he didn’t want to make any more, but eventually relented and used the opportunity to exert more influence over the role and improve the franchise.
“I didn’t know how to do it without her. But Johanna would surely not have wanted us to stop filming because she chose a different path. We must choose our own path. We can’t put a stop to our own lives because hers has come to an end.”