⭐8.8
Description: The first German production from the world’s leading Internet TV Network is set in a German town in present day where the disappearance of two young children exposes the double lives and fractured relationships among four families. In ten hour-long episodes, the story takes on a surprising twist that ties back to the same town in 1986.
Creators: Baran bo Odar, Jantje Friese
Stars: Louis Hofmann, Karoline Eichhorn, Lisa Vicari
Trivia
- First German series produced by Netflix.
- Many of the forrest scenes were filmed at the Fahrtechnikakademie Kallinchen near Berlin. This place is a former military testing area of the German Democratic Republic.
- The tattoo on Noah’s back, and in a picture in the 1986 version of the local hospital, is of The Emerald Tablet, an ancient text, part of what is known as “Hermetica”, a collection of occultist 2nd Century Greco-Egyptian “wisdom texts”. It describes, among other things, alchemy experiments, transmutation, and the creation of the universe. More importantly, it discusses the idea that both large and small actions are all connected and influence each other, which is a central theme of the series. Also, conspiracy theorists claim, since according to some people, the text is much older than the language it contains, that it might be from somewhere unknown, some claim aliens, some claim time-travel.
- The date November 12th is also a critical date in Back to the Future (1985), it being a date in which many time-traveling decisions and actions collide.
- The haunting intro song named ‘Goodbye’ is from the German musician Apparat. This song has been used for various movie trailers and TV shows. One of the most noteworthy uses of this music is in the background to a climatic scene in the end of Season 4 of Breaking Bad. The episode was called ‘Face Off’.
- The Netflix premiere date for season 3 is June 27th, 2020; the “end of the world” date in the show.
- The central motif of the series soundtrack mimics the “Doppler Effect” (a high pitch transitioning to a low pitch), perhaps alluding to the centrality of the Doppler family to the story.
- Ahead of the season 2 release in June 2019 the show was renewed for a third (and final) season by Netflix.
- The song young Ulrich is listening to is called ‘Pleasure to Kill’ by German metal band Kreator (from their 1986 second album “Pleasure to kill”).
- The game that Bartosz and Jonas play in episode 5 of season 1 is called the Surge by German developer Deck 13. The game could be best described as Sci-fi Dark Souls, however it does not feature a co-op mode. That was probably a tech demo provided for the show.
- Filmed using the Univisium aspect ratio, 2.0 to 1.
- Photography by Nikolaus Summerer has a distinctive personality, having either an object or a shade of yellow in every single take.
- The show was greenlit by Netflix in February 2016. The second season was ordered in December 2017.
- Principal photography started on October 18, 2016 in and around Berlin.
- Director Baran bo Odar and producers Max Wiedemann / Quirin Berg previously collaborated on Who Am I (2014).
- Carina Wiese (Franziska Doppler) and Sylvester Groth (Investigator Clausen) are together in Deutschland 86 (2018), which takes place in 1986 as well.
- Originally the show runners Baran Bo Odar and Jantje Friese were asked by Netflix to create a series from their movie Who Am I (2014). They were not interested and proposed to create something new: They already had plans for a series inspired by The Missing (2014) and a time travel movie and merged both ideas to finally pitch DARK.
- First German series produced by Netflix.
- Many of the forrest scenes were filmed at the Fahrtechnikakademie Kallinchen near Berlin. This place is a former military testing area of the German Democratic Republic.
- The tattoo on Noah’s back, and in a picture in the 1986 version of the local hospital, is of The Emerald Tablet, an ancient text, part of what is known as “Hermetica”, a collection of occultist 2nd Century Greco-Egyptian “wisdom texts”. It describes, among other things, alchemy experiments, transmutation, and the creation of the universe. More importantly, it discusses the idea that both large and small actions are all connected and influence each other, which is a central theme of the series. Also, conspiracy theorists claim, since according to some people, the text is much older than the language it contains, that it might be from somewhere unknown, some claim aliens, some claim time-travel.
- The date November 12th is also a critical date in Back to the Future (1985), it being a date in which many time-traveling decisions and actions collide.
- The haunting intro song named ‘Goodbye’ is from the German musician Apparat. This song has been used for various movie trailers and TV shows. One of the most noteworthy uses of this music is in the background to a climatic scene in the end of Season 4 of Breaking Bad. The episode was called ‘Face Off’.
- The Netflix premiere date for season 3 is June 27th, 2020; the “end of the world” date in the show.
- The central motif of the series soundtrack mimics the “Doppler Effect” (a high pitch transitioning to a low pitch), perhaps alluding to the centrality of the Doppler family to the story.
- Ahead of the season 2 release in June 2019 the show was renewed for a third (and final) season by Netflix.
- The song young Ulrich is listening to is called ‘Pleasure to Kill’ by German metal band Kreator (from their 1986 second album “Pleasure to kill”).
- The game that Bartosz and Jonas play in episode 5 of season 1 is called the Surge by German developer Deck 13. The game could be best described as Sci-fi Dark Souls, however it does not feature a co-op mode. That was probably a tech demo provided for the show.
- The tattoo on Noah’s back, and in a picture in the 1986 version of the local hospital, is of The Emerald Tablet, an ancient text, part of what is known as “Hermetica”, a collection of occultist 2nd Century Greco-Egyptian “wisdom texts”. It describes, among other things, alchemy experiments, transmutation, and the creation of the universe. More importantly, it discusses the idea that both large and small actions are all connected and influence each other, which is a central theme of the series. Also, conspiracy theorists claim, since according to some people, the text is much older than the language it contains, that it might be from somewhere unknown, some claim aliens, some claim time-travel.