The New Force

“The New Force” Off Screen: The Surprisingly Drama-Free Drama (With One Very Loud Hip-Hop Fight)

Forget messy breakups and trailer-park tantrums: when it comes to real-life scandals, Netflix’s Swedish period cop show The New Force (Skiftet) is less “cast at war” and more “cast at fika.” But don’t hang up your gossip hat yet — there is one gloriously petty controversy, latestnetflix.com argues, and it’s blasting straight out of the speakers.

Below, the complete tabloid tour of every scrap of real, sourced tea connected to The New Force and its makers — no invented drama, just what’s actually out there.

Scandals & Controversies: When 1958 Met Gangster Rap

The biggest “scandal” around The New Force is not who slept with whom — it’s what on earth is going on with the music.

Viewers vs. the Hip-Hop Soundtrack

• Swedish entertainment site Filmtopp rounded up furious Facebook comments from viewers who adored the show… except for one thing: the modern rap and hip‑hop tracks dropped into a 1950s Stockholm story.
• Sample complaints (translated gist):
• One viewer says the series is good “apart from the music.”
• Another begs: “What kind of music have you added? Shouldn’t the music relate to the era?”
• Yet another snipes that the hip‑hop “destroys” the experience and questions what anyone was thinking with those choices.
• The article notes outright that Skiftet uses contemporary rap music, which many fans see as wildly out of place for a prim, period-piece cop drama.

Critics Drag the Sound Mixing – Hard

• International reviewers piled on the same point. TV review site The Review Geek absolutely torched the sound decisions, saying whoever handled the sound mixing “should hang their head in shame,” and calling the choice of “gangster rap and punk” in this context baffling.
• The reviewer points out that anachronistic music can work (name-dropping Bridgerton and Peaky Blinders), but argues that in The New Force it “just doesn’t work” — especially when a tense investigative moment smash-cuts into Swedish gangster rap.
• In a snarky flourish, the review jokes that they “might as well have thrown on a Taylor Swift track too,” leaning into how jarringly modern the soundtrack feels in a 1958 setting.

The Ice Cube Moment That Launched a Thousand Eye-Rolls

• The soundtrack isn’t subtle: a cover of Ice Cube’s “Good Cop, Bad Cop” is prominently included on the official album, released by Netflix Music, alongside original score by Irya Gmeyner and Martin Hederos.
• Music sites explicitly highlight the inclusion of the Good Cop, Bad Cop track on the soundtrack, underlining how far the show is willing to lean into modern protest/rap aesthetics inside a mid‑century Swedish police drama.
• Decider’s review side‑eyes the whole thing, dryly musing that the hip‑hop soundtrack feels like a “forced attempt at making the show cooler” rather than something that organically fits the story.

Result? No lawsuits, no walkouts, no producer brawls — but a mini culture war over the playlist, with a chorus of viewers insisting the music “ruins” the vibe, and a few critics suggesting the show is a decent drama buried under some very loud, very wrong needle drops.

On-Set Drama: The Quiet Set That Refused To Meltdown

If you were hoping for screaming matches in Norrköping or diva behavior in vintage uniforms, the receipts say: nope.

• Reviews and feature pieces from Nordic TV blogs and international outlets describe the production as “stilsäker” (stylistically confident) and ambitious, but the complaints are mostly about writing, pacing and tone — not about chaos behind the cameras.
• Swedish critics at major outlets like Dagens Nyheter and Filmtopp slam Skiftet for being “platt och övertydligt” (flat and heavy-handed) or uneven, but there’s zero mention of on‑set blowups or production scandal — just creative critique of the finished product.

In other words: artistically divisive, but logistically… weirdly well-behaved.

Cast Feuds & Tea: All Sisterhood, No Catfights

You’d think a show about women fighting sexism in the 1950s police force would spawn at least one rumor about a real‑life feud. But everything visible around Josefin Asplund, Agnes Rase and Malin Persson points to teamwork, not tension.

Instagram = Girl Gang Energy, Not Beef

• Cast‑adjacent posts from Actors in Sweden hype The New Force/Skiftet by celebrating the ensemble and showing behind‑the‑scenes smiles — with no shade, sub‑tweets, or icy body language in sight.
• A launch‑week Instagram post from Josefin Asplund herself calls it “The New Force – now on Netflix worldwide” and tags her co‑stars in a “with my gals”‑style caption, underscoring close camaraderie rather than distance.

Press Framing: “Brilliant Cast,” Not “Fractured Cast”

• English‑language write‑ups and promo posts rave about how Asplund, Rase and Persson “slip so completely” into their roles as trailblazing officers, again with no whispers of conflict sneaking into the coverage.

If there is private tea, it’s staying very Swedish about it: minimalist, discreet, and absolutely not on the record.

Romance Rumors: Strictly Off Duty, Strictly Boring (In a Good Way)

Romance‑hunters, avert your thirst: the personal lives around The New Force are strikingly wholesome and gossip‑resistant.

Josefin Asplund: Married, With a Baby – Zero Mess

• Biographical write‑ups and industry profiles of Josefin Asplund note that she married her partner in 2022 and had a baby the same year, painting a picture of settled domestic life rather than set‑fling chaos.
• Public interviews around her earlier projects (Snow Angels, Top Dog, Vikings) lean heavy on craft and character work, light on salacious personal revelations, and nothing ties her to any New Force co‑star romantically.

Agnes Rase: Sci‑Fi Nerd, Not Tabloid Fodder

• Agnes Rase’s social media presence around this era is basically love letters to her projects – she posts enthusiastically about working on sci‑fi series We Come in Peace and calls herself a proud sci‑fi fan, but no dating‑rumor bait shows up in connection to The New Force.

Zero Co‑Star Hook‑Up Headlines

• Across English and Swedish entertainment coverage, there are no reports of cast romances, messy breakups, or co‑star triangles tied to the show. No DeuxMoi‑style blind items, no fan‑shipping meltdowns elevated into news.

So if you were hoping for a Vikings‑style tangled love polygon behind this cop drama, reality is more “happy parents and hard‑working actors” than “who’s sneaking into whose trailer.”

Creators, Clout & Off-Show Drama: The Rojda Sekersöz Connection

While The New Force itself seems oddly unmessy, one of its key creative forces, director Rojda Sekersöz, does live in a slightly more chaotic TV universe — just not on this show.

Young Royals Fan Speculation About “Conflict”

• Before handling Skiftet/The New Force, Sekersöz was the conceptual director behind Netflix teen hit Young Royals. On that show, fans on Reddit have speculated that she didn’t return for season 3 due to some kind of behind‑the‑scenes disagreement with other creators or producers during season 2 — but this is framed explicitly as fan theory, not confirmed fact.
• There’s no reporting tying this rumored conflict to The New Force, and no gossip outlets have linked any alleged fallout on Young Royals to drama on the Swedish cop series. It’s simply context that one of The New Force’s key director‑figures has worked in more openly dissected, fandom‑heavy territory before.

Otherwise: “Brightest Young Director,” Not “Trouble on Set”

• Profiles of Sekersöz emphasize her status as one of Sweden’s brightest young directors, spotlighting her work on Beyond Dreams and Young Royals and her move into new projects, but they remain PR‑polished and scandal‑free.

At best, you can say The New Force was captained by someone who knows what heated fandom scrutiny looks like — and then somehow avoided that exact furnace with this show.

Wild Trivia & Little Nuggets of Noise

What do you dig up when there’s no sex tape, no leaked pages, and no bar‑fight footage? You go for the weird little details that are real:

The Soundtrack Is Officially a Whole Thing

• Netflix Music dropped a full official soundtrack album for The New Force, featuring score tracks and that infamous cover of Ice Cube’s “Good Cop, Bad Cop”.
• Track lists from music platforms and soundtrack trackers confirm the mash‑up: moody original score cues like “The New Force Theme” and “Carins Struggle,” spliced with the Ice Cube cover and vintage‑style songs like Alice Babs’ “Love in Swingtime.”
• The result is a sonic cocktail that critics either call bold or baffling — depending on how much anachronism they can stomach.

Viewers: Split Between “Masterpiece” and “Magplask”

• Swedish critics were not shy: some reviews in major dailies describe Skiftet as a “pamflettdrama” (pamphlet‑like, preachy) and even a “magplask” (belly‑flop) despite praising the costumes and 1950s atmosphere.
• Meanwhile, a vocal chunk of the local Facebook audience genuinely loves the show and gives it high marks, calling it important, stylish, and well worth watching — if only someone would turn the rap down.

Critics Keep Comparing It to Other Shows… Not Other Scandals

• English‑language reviewers keep lining The New Force up next to Apple TV+’s Women in Blue and feminist‑leaning crime dramas, debating whether it balances message and mystery, but they stay firmly in story discourse, not backstage gossip.

So Where’s the Juicy Stuff?

If you’re used to Hollywood productions leaking more drama than an over‑steeped teabag, The New Force is almost suspiciously tame. After combing through:

• entertainment and TV review outlets in English and Swedish,
• social media posts and fan comments,
• soundtrack coverage and Nordic TV blogs,

the only persistent “controversy” that shows up is the backlash to the show’s aggressively modern soundtrack choices — especially the Ice Cube‑adjacent hip‑hop in a 1958 setting — plus some sharp but standard critical reviews of its writing and tone.

No confirmed:

• on‑set feuds,
• dating/breakup scandals,
• lawsuits,
• leak scandals,
• or major casting outcries.

In true Nordic fashion, the messiest thing about The New Force is… the music supervisor’s Spotify queue.