Paradis City Season 1 cast and character guide: Who plays whom in new Amazon Swedish action series

Amazon Prime Video's latest Swedish thriller, Paradis City, is based on Jens Lapidus' novel Snabba Cash, which was previously adapted for Netflix.

The show, which dropped all six episodes on March 7, 2025, follows a dystopian future in Sweden marked by significant social and economic upheaval. At a time when the country is segregated between rich and poor, the Home Minister is abducted, plunging the country into further chaos.

The show is directed by Alain Darborg and Fenar Ahmed and produced by Lapidus’ Shingle Strive Studios. The screenplay is primarily written by Björn Paqualin, from Lapidus' novel.

Here is the complete cast and character guide to Paradis City.

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Main cast and character guide to Paradis City

1) Alexander Abdallah as Emir

Abdallah plays Emir, an MMA fighter and a convict in the thriller. After masked men abduct Minister Henriksson, Emir is asked to pitch in and help find him before things get dirty for the country. Thinking this is his only chance for freedom and to see his daughter again, Emir agrees to help.

Abdallah has previously worked on Netflix's Snabba Cash, another series based on Jens Lapidus' same novel. He played the character of Salim. His other credits include Thunder in My Heart and Love Me.

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2) Julia Ragnasson as Fredrika

Ragnasson plays Special Agent Fredrika in Paradis City. She forms an unlikely team with Emir to find the Home Minister, who was abducted from the dangerous no-go zones. While Fredrika has to race against time to find the men responsible for the abduction, she also has to be wary of her country's situation.

In an interview with Variety, Niklas Wikström Nicasto discussed the casting process for the series:

“Julia got the part only three weeks before shooting. It was crazy. But we’re so happy with our choice. Both Alexander and Julia are among the most talented of their generation,”

Ragnasson's most notable appearances include Stockholm Stories, Midsommar and My Aunt in Sarajevo.

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Supporting cast of Paradis City

The supporting cast of the show includes:

• Sverrir Gudnason as Hermann Murell
• Louise Peterhoff
• Felice Jankell
• Jessica Liedberg
• Anna Azcárate
• Lancelot Ncube
• Richard Ulfsäter
• Ali Sivandi

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What is Paradis City about?

The thriller imagines a future period in Sweden where socio-economic gaps have widened to extreme measures, causing division among people. This division, primarily between rich and poor, has created small and segregated groups marked by thick prison-like walls.

Amid this political and economic upheaval, the abduction of the Home Minister creates even more chaos, and Special Agent Fredrick teams up with a convict to find him.

In an interview with Variety, Lapidus talks about the inspiration behind his work:

''I got the idea to draw a Sweden seen from a distance, not geographical but in time. I started thinking-what would happen if this violence and criminality were getting out of control? What would be the nightmare scenario? Well that nightmare scenario would be a society unable to protect itself and suddenly forced to build gigantic walls to fence off the ‘dangerous’ people.”

Nicastro notes how the show mimics the structure of Lapidus' novel (via Variety):

“[Paradis City] is structured almost like a feature, with a fast pace. It literally follows the novel, although of course, story-wise we’ve made changes.”

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