Initially Juha Veijonen was announced to play the leading role of Jussi Vares as in the earlier Vares films, but in March 2010 it was announced that he was unable to reprise the role and the replacement will be Antti Reini.
The previous film V2 - Jäätynyt enkeli (2007) can be seen on cable television in the prison cell of Kyypakkaus. The character was Jasper Pääkkönen's third in as many Vares films.
Actor Antti Reini had not read any of the Vares books, or seen the previous films before he was cast as Jussi Vares. He was filming Opération Arctic Fox (2011) in Sweden at the time and had roughly a month to prepare for the role.
Writer Katariina Souri was against the script changes by director Anders Engström. Souri took a psychological approach to the story, while Engström wanted to inject more action elements into the film.