“He’s not in the area,” said police spokesman Björ Blixter to news agency TT.

The production company Tre Vänner’s press officer Gilda Romero confirmed that Lind Lagerlöf is missing.

“Naturally his family has reacted with shock and dismay,” she said to TT.

On Thursday, Daniel Lind Lagerlöf went to the nature reserve Tjurpannan together with two colleagues, to prepare a thriller film based on one of Swedish author Camilla Läckberg’s books.

The colleagues went off in separate directions, but Lind Lagerlöf never returned. An extensive police search of the area went on for nearly 48 hours, but on Saturday evening the search was called off.

According to Björ Blixter, police spokesman, they judged that it was inconceivable that the missing man was anywhere in the search area.

“We’ve found nothing. He’s not in the area,” he said.

Daniel Lind Lagerlöf was one of Swedish film and TV’s most versatile directors. He did everything from blockbuster productions such as thrillers Beck and Johan Falk, and TV series Skärgårdsdoktorn, to artsier series such as Bibliotekstjuven and Mannen under trappan, both received to critical acclaim.

The movies Breaking Out (Vägen ut), with Björn Kjellman in one of the leads, Making Babies (Hans och hennes), with Jonas Karlsson and Johanna Sällström, and Miffo, also with Jonas Karlsson, made him famous to a wider audience. All three of these films were made together with his wife, Malin Lagerlöf.

If new information surfaces regarding the missing film director, the police will renew their assessment about continuing the search for him, whether on land or at sea.

While searching for Lind Lagerlöf, the police made another discovery just north of the nature reserve Tjurpannan. This find was considered so interesting that the area was cordoned off, and forensic technicians were called in to investigate.

The investigation is still ongoing, and police are unwilling to disclose any further information about it.

“But it has nothing to do with the missing 42 year-old,” said Björ Blixter.