# Copenhagen Cowboy
**Copenhagen Cowboy** is a six-episode Danish-language neo-noir television series created and directed by Nicolas Winding Refn for Netflix, following the enigmatic young heroine Miu through Copenhagen's criminal underworld as she searches for justice and enacts vengeance.[1](https://about.netflix.com/en/news/netflix-unveils-official-trailer-and-date-for-copenhagen-cowboy) It was released globally on Netflix on January 5, 2023, after a world premiere out of competition at the 2022 Venice International Film Festival.[1](https://about.netflix.com/en/news/netflix-unveils-official-trailer-and-date-for-copenhagen-cowboy) • [2](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/copenhagen-cowboy-long-winding-road)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Format | Six episodes, roughly 52 minutes each; Danish-language drama, rated TV-MA[3](https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81402987) • [4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/copenhagen_cowboy) |
| Release | World premiere out of competition at Venice, September 2022; global Netflix launch January 5, 2023[2](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/copenhagen-cowboy-long-winding-road) • [1](https://about.netflix.com/en/news/netflix-unveils-official-trailer-and-date-for-copenhagen-cowboy) |
| Lead cast | Angela Bundalovic as Miu; Lola Corfixen as Rakel; Zlatko Buric as Miroslav[1](https://about.netflix.com/en/news/netflix-unveils-official-trailer-and-date-for-copenhagen-cowboy) |
| Creative team | Writers Sara Isabella Jønsson, Johanne Algren, and Mona Masri; produced by byNWR Originals[1](https://about.netflix.com/en/news/netflix-unveils-official-trailer-and-date-for-copenhagen-cowboy) |
| Music | Cliff Martinez, Peter Peter, Peter Kyed, and Julian Winding[1](https://about.netflix.com/en/news/netflix-unveils-official-trailer-and-date-for-copenhagen-cowboy) |
| Critical scores | 68% Tomatometer from 31 reviews and 79% Popcornmeter on Rotten Tomatoes; 6.7/10 on IMDb from about 7,300 votes[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/copenhagen_cowboy) • [5](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/copenhagen-cowboy) |
## Spoilers
### Premise
Miu, played by Angela Bundalovic, has spent a lifetime of servitude being sold as a human good luck charm. Bought and sold since her mother first sold her at age seven, she belongs in the present day to Rosella (Dragana Milutinovic), a middle-aged woman who believes Miu's mysterious powers will help her become pregnant.[3](https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81402987) • [2](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/copenhagen-cowboy-long-winding-road) On the verge of a new beginning, Miu traverses Copenhagen's criminal netherworld, encountering her nemesis Rakel as the two embark on an odyssey through the natural and the supernatural.[1](https://about.netflix.com/en/news/netflix-unveils-official-trailer-and-date-for-copenhagen-cowboy)
The episode arcs involve stolen drug money, trafficked sex workers, and a sadistic villain, moving Miu from seedy underground brothels to fluorescent Chinese restaurants, corporate back rooms, and mansion estates.[2](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/copenhagen-cowboy-long-winding-road) The six episodes are titled "Miu the Mysterious", "Vengeance Is My Name", "Dragon Palace", "From Mr. Chiang with Love", "Copenhagen", and "The Heavens Will Fall".[3](https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81402987)
## Cast and production
**Casting.** Alongside Bundalovic and Milutinovic, the series features Zlatko Buric, a seasoned Refn collaborator, as the unscrupulous drug dealer Miroslav, and a roster of first-time screen actors: Li li Zhang as the tricksy Mother Hulda, Jason Hendil-Forssell as the brutal kidnapper Mr. Chiang, and Andreas Lykke Jørgensen as the serial killer Nicklas.[1](https://about.netflix.com/en/news/netflix-unveils-official-trailer-and-date-for-copenhagen-cowboy) • [2](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/copenhagen-cowboy-long-winding-road) Rakel is played by Lola Corfixen, Refn's daughter, in her first screen role.[2](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/copenhagen-cowboy-long-winding-road)
**Production.** The series was written by Sara Isabella Jønsson, Johanne Algren, and Mona Masri, produced by Lene Børglum and Christina Bostofte Erritzøe for byNWR Originals, and shot by cinematographer Magnus Nordenhof Jønck.[1](https://about.netflix.com/en/news/netflix-unveils-official-trailer-and-date-for-copenhagen-cowboy) Refn worked under the constraints of Covid, and the show marked his return to his native Denmark for the first time since 2005; it is his first Danish-language project since *Pusher 3* (2005) and the first work he has shot and set in Denmark in over 20 years.[6](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/jan/03/copenhagen-cowboy-review-nicolas-winding-refn-netflix-series) • [7](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/copenhagen-cowboy-tv-review-2023) • [2](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/copenhagen-cowboy-long-winding-road)
## Style and themes
The series carries the neon-drenched neo-noir aesthetic of Refn's career: high-contrast pinks, purples, and blues light Miu's world, from LED strip lights to the glow of slot machines and storefronts, with lilac sunsets backlighting her silhouette.[2](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/copenhagen-cowboy-long-winding-road) [Cliff Martinez](https://www.edgepedia.org/cliff-martinez)'s synth-heavy score overlays the violence with a pounding beat.[2](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/copenhagen-cowboy-long-winding-road) Refn has said the title has nothing to do with the content of the show; the phrase came to him before he started writing, and, in his words, "I just like the two words together".[6](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/jan/03/copenhagen-cowboy-review-nicolas-winding-refn-netflix-series)
Pigs are a prevailing symbol: men make squealing pig noises when wounded, and a pig farm is the setting for several gruesome acts of violence.[2](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/copenhagen-cowboy-long-winding-road) Refn has described the series as inspired by westerns, fairy tales, and what he has called the "metaphysical power of femininity".[2](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/copenhagen-cowboy-long-winding-road) Miu herself is an inscrutable protagonist, a small, wily figure in a blue tracksuit whose stillness is broken only by flashes of martial arts, and whose supernatural gift is never fully defined on screen.[2](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/copenhagen-cowboy-long-winding-road) • [7](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/copenhagen-cowboy-tv-review-2023)
## Genre reading
According to a study by David Sweeney of the Glasgow School of Art published in the *Journal of European Popular Culture*, the series was pitched to Netflix as a continuation of Refn's Pusher trilogy of grittily realistic Copenhagen gangster films, but Refn also wished to introduce other genres, telling Netflix the series would climax with "a spaceship at the end".[8](https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1386/jepc_00072_1) Sweeney argues that *Copenhagen Cowboy* represents Refn's first explicit foray into science fiction, and specifically a superhero narrative whose nature is only truly revealed in the final episode.[8](https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1386/jepc_00072_1) This late reveal was noted by critics as well: the supernatural elements are only somewhat elucidated in the finale, when Miu has a meeting of minds with her nemesis and alter ego Rakel.[2](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/copenhagen-cowboy-long-winding-road)
## Reception
The series divided critics. On Rotten Tomatoes it holds a 68% Tomatometer from 31 reviews and a 79% audience Popcornmeter.[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/copenhagen_cowboy) The BFI's Steph Green called it a glacial, occasionally riveting odyssey that will appeal to viewers partial to Refn's acidic, arcane films, while finding the journey overly languid despite its visual strikingness.[2](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/copenhagen-cowboy-long-winding-road) The Guardian's review judged that Refn's strengths and weaknesses do not suit the six-hour running time, which puts more space between the flashes of intense beauty that established him among arthouse auteurs.[6](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/jan/03/copenhagen-cowboy-review-nicolas-winding-refn-netflix-series) Cineuropa, by contrast, praised it as a cinematic gem that breaks down barriers between television and cinema, blending perversion and violence in the manner of *Twin Peaks*.[9](https://cineuropa.org/en/newsdetail/434677) Common Sense Media noted that the narrative unfolds too slowly, leaving most of the reveal for the last episode, and that the series is entrenched in Scandinavian mythology.[10](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/tv-reviews/copenhagen-cowboy)
## References
1. [Netflix Unveils Official Trailer and Date For Copenhagen Cowboy, About Netflix (23 November 2022)](https://about.netflix.com/en/news/netflix-unveils-official-trailer-and-date-for-copenhagen-cowboy)
2. [Steph Green, "Copenhagen Cowboy: a long and Winding road", Sight and Sound, BFI (15 September 2022)](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/copenhagen-cowboy-long-winding-road)
3. [Copenhagen Cowboy, Netflix Official Site](https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81402987)
4. [Copenhagen Cowboy, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/tv/copenhagen_cowboy)
5. [Copenhagen Cowboy, JustWatch](https://www.justwatch.com/us/tv-show/copenhagen-cowboy)
6. [Charles Bramesco, "Copenhagen Cowboy review – Nicolas Winding Refn's scattershot Netflix series", The Guardian (3 January 2023)](https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/jan/03/copenhagen-cowboy-review-nicolas-winding-refn-netflix-series)
7. [Brian Tallerico, "Copenhagen Cowboy", RogerEbert.com (4 January 2023)](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/copenhagen-cowboy-tv-review-2023)
8. [David Sweeney, "'With a spaceship at the end': Genre hybridity in Copenhagen Cowboy by Nicolas Winding Refn", Journal of European Popular Culture (2024)](https://intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1386/jepc_00072_1)
9. [Series review: Copenhagen Cowboy, Cineuropa](https://cineuropa.org/en/newsdetail/434677)
10. [Copenhagen Cowboy Parents' Guide, Common Sense Media](https://www.commonsensemedia.org/tv-reviews/copenhagen-cowboy)
---
*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Scripted television and comedy series › Drama and prestige series (individual series) › Science fiction, horror, and supernatural*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license