# The Head (2020)

> A small team of Antarctic researchers is trapped in the polar winter as their colleagues start dying, forcing them to confront a buried secret.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/85847

## Facts

- Seasons: 3
- Episodes: 18
- Episode runtime: 53 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: mystery, drama, thriller
- Created by: Àlex Pastor, David Pastor
- Network: HBO Asia, HBO Max, Max
- Cast: Alexandre Willaume, Katharine O'Donnelly, John Lynch, Richard Sammel, Laura Bach, Álvaro Morte, Tomohisa Yamashita, Sandra Andreis
- TMDB rating: 6.8/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8290362/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: moderate
- Tone: paranoid, bleak, claustrophobic, suspenseful, brooding

## What critics say

Audience reception is mixed, with the first two seasons rated well and the third season falling off in ratings.

## Synopsis

The Head (2020-2025) is a Spanish-produced Nordic noir mystery series created by Àlex Pastor and David Pastor, with production by The Mediapro Studio and broadcast in the United States on HBO Max. Across three seasons and eighteen episodes of roughly fifty-three minutes each, it follows the Winterers, a small team stationed at the isolated Polaris VI Antarctic Research Station as the South Pole sinks into its six-month night. Renowned biologist Arthur Wilde (John Lynch) pursues a solution to climate change, but his quest curdles into nightmare when several of his esteemed scientists begin to die. Maggie Mitchell (Katharine O'Donnelly) stands at the center of the unraveling, while Johan Berg (Alexandre Willaume), Erik Osterland (Richard Sammel) and Annika Lundqvist (Laura Bach) are drawn into a tightening web of suspicion. The engine is a closed circle of suspects, a dwindling supply of trust, and a buried secret that no one wants exposed. Each season turns the screws on a sealed community, with the cold and darkness pressing in as alliances fracture. Shape and scale are those of a serialized thriller in which the mystery builds steadily rather than resolving in standalone cases. The mood is paranoid, bleak and claustrophobic, with the frozen landscape functioning almost as a character. Fans of The Thing, Borgen and polar-set survival dread will find the same sense of isolation and moral rot here.

## Shows like The Head

- [Infiniti (2022)](https://ember.film/tv/106631)
- [Helix (2014)](https://ember.film/tv/52613)
- [The Rig (2023)](https://ember.film/tv/93872)
- [The Valhalla Murders (2019)](https://ember.film/tv/82100)
- [The Åre Murders (2025)](https://ember.film/tv/142946)
- [The Wall (2019)](https://ember.film/tv/78613)
- [Katla (2021)](https://ember.film/tv/87110)
- [The Frozen Dead (2017)](https://ember.film/tv/60860)
- [Fortitude (2015)](https://ember.film/tv/54693)
- [Trapped (2015)](https://ember.film/tv/57319)

---

Site overview: https://ember.film/llms.txt