Dark (TV series)

Dark is a German science fiction mystery thriller television series created by Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese. It ran for three seasons from 2017 to 2020. The story primarily follows four families from the fictional town of Winden, Germany, as they pursue the truth in the aftermath of a child's disappearance, unraveling a sinister time travel conspiracy that spans several generations. The series explores the existential implications of time and its effect on human nature and life, with its plot structure making prominent use of the bootstrap paradox. It features a large ensemble cast led by Louis Hofmann.

Dark debuted on 1 December 2017 on Netflix; it is the service's first German-language original series. The second season was released on 21 June 2019, while the third and final season was released on 27 June 2020.

Dark has received critical acclaim for its performances, casting, direction, writing, tone, visuals, themes, musical score, and the ambition and complexity of its narrative structure. It has been nominated for and won several awards. In 2021, the BBC ranked the series as the 58th greatest TV series of the 21st century.

Overview

Children start vanishing from the German town of Winden, bringing to light the fractured relationships, double lives, and dark pasts of four families living there and unfurling a mystery that spans four generations.

The first season begins in 2019, but later grows to include 1986 and 1953 via time travel, when members of the show's central families become aware of a wormhole in the cave system beneath the local nuclear power plant. During the first season, secrets are revealed concerning the Kahnwald, Nielsen, Doppler, and Tiedemann families, and their lives begin crumbling as their ties are exposed. The conspiracy involves the missing children and the history of the town and its citizens.

The second season continues the families' attempts to reunite with their missing loved ones several months after the first-season finale, in 2020, 1987 and 1954, respectively. Additional storylines are set in 2053 and 1921. The second season introduces Sic Mundus Creatus Est, a major faction in the ongoing battle for the ultimate fate of the people of Winden and the world. The season counts down to the apocalypse.

The third season follows the four families across time in the wake of the apocalypse in 2020. It introduces a parallel world tethered to the first. The third season continues the 1954, 1987, 2020, and 2053 storylines in the first world, while also adding a new 1888 storyline and two 2019 and 2052 storylines in the second world, as the factions further their own desires for each world. The season also showcases the main events across all of these years, continuing the events of the season while also serving as backstory for the events of the first two seasons.

Cast and characters

The first season takes place primarily in 2019 but expands to include stories set in 1986, 1953, and – in the final scene of the first season – 2052, with several characters portrayed at various ages by multiple actors.

The second season takes place several months after the first, depicting the initial stories in 2020, 1987, and 1954, respectively, while continuing the future-set storyline into 2053, and adding a fifth storyline, set in 1921.

The third season introduces a storyline based in 1888 and a parallel reality featuring alternate versions of many main characters.

Main characters

Recurring cast

• Jennipher Antoni as Ulla Obendorf, Erik Obendorf's mother in 2019 (season 1)
• Nils Brunkhorst as the high school's science teacher in 2019 (seasons 1, 3)
• Lena Dörrie as Clara Schrage, a nurse attending to Helge Doppler in 2019 (season 1)
• Tara Fischer as a friend of Katharina in 1986–1987 (seasons 1–3)
• Leopold Hornung as Torben Wöller, a junior police officer in 2019–2020, Benni/Bernadette's brother (seasons 1–3)
• Tom Jahn as Jürgen Obendorf, Erik Obendorf's father in 2019–2020 (seasons 1–3)
• Anna König as Edda Heimann, a pathologist in 2019 (seasons 1, 3)
• Vico Mücke as Yasin Friese, Elisabeth Doppler's boyfriend in 2019 (season 1)
• Henning Peker as Udo Meier, a pathologist in 1953–1954 (seasons 1–2)
• Barbara Philipp as Selma Ahrens, a caseworker in 1986 (season 1)
• Paul Radom as Erik Obendorf, a teenage drug dealer gone missing in 2019 (season 1)
• Anton Rubtsov as Benni/Bernadette, a transgender prostitute in 2019–2020, Torben's sister (seasons 1–3)
• Sammy Scheuritzel as Kilian Obendorf, Erik Obendorf's brother and Martha and Bartosz's classmate in 2019's alternative world (seasons 1, 3)
• Anna Schönberg as Donata Kraus, a nurse and Ines Kahnwald's co-worker in 1986 (season 1)
• Andreas Schröders as a power plant worker in 2020 (season 2)
• Mieke Schymura as Justyna Jankowski, a junior police officer in 2019–2020 (seasons 1–3)
• Axel Werner as Gustav Tannhaus, H. G. Tannhaus' grandfather and an industrialist fascinated with time travel (season 3)
• Lea Willkowsky as Jasmin Trewen, Claudia Tiedemann's secretary in 1986–1987 (seasons 1–3)
• Roland Wolf as a police officer and co-worker of Egon Tiedemann in 1953–1954 (seasons 1–2)

Family tree

Episodes

Season 1 (2017)

Season 2 (2019)

Season 3 (2020)

Production

Netflix approved the series in February 2016 for a first season consisting of ten one-hour episodes. Principal photography started on 18 October 2016 in and around Berlin (including Saarmund and Tremsdorf in Brandenburg), and ended in March 2017.

The church where Jonas meets Noah was filmed at the Stahnsdorf South-Western Cemetery in Stahnsdorf. The high school location was filmed at the Reinfelder Schule in Berlin's Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf neighbourhood. The bridge and the train tracks were filmed on the abandoned Wannsee-Stahnsdorf railway in the middle of the Düppeler forest near Lake Wannsee. The gates to the power plant are those at the Olympic Stadium Bell Tower; the nuclear reactor towers were computer-animated. The recurring street scene of the bus stop and T-intersection was filmed at Fahrtechnik Akademie in Zossen. The truck stop with Benni's caravan is located at Zollamt Berlin-Dreilinden (the former Checkpoint Bravo). Exterior hospital shots were filmed at the old section of Lungenklinik Heckeshorn in Wannsee. Library scenes were filmed at the University of Applied Sciences for Finance in Königs Wusterhausen and Berlin State Library.

The series was filmed in 4K (Ultra HD) resolution. It is the first German-language Netflix original series and follows a trend of internationally produced Netflix originals, including the Mexican series Club de Cuervos in 2015, the Brazilian series 3% in 2016, the Italian series Suburra: Blood on Rome in 2017, and the Indian series Sacred Games in 2018.

Principal photography for the second season took place on location in Berlin from June 2018 until November 2018.

Filming for the third season began in May 2019 and wrapped in December 2019.

Music

Season 1

Track listing

Season 2

Track listing

Season 3

Track listing

Pre-released songs

Apart from the score, numerous pre-released songs were also used throughout the series. The song "Goodbye" by Apparat in collaboration with Soap&Skin was used as the opening theme for the episodes. Songs by the vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth were also heavily featured on multiple episodes; the third movement of Caroline Shaw's Partita for 8 Voices was featured prominently in season one, and Alev Lenz's "May the Angels", also featuring Roomful of Teeth, was used in the season two episode five, "Lost and Found". The series finale features Soap&Skin's cover of "What a Wonderful World" and Nena's "Irgendwie, irgendwo, irgendwann", the latter which is played over the end credits to close out the series.

Release

The first season of the series was released on 1 December 2017.

A second season was announced with a short teaser on the German Facebook pages of the series and Netflix on 20 December 2017. On 26 April 2019, a second season was announced which was released on 21 June 2019.

On 26 May 2020, a third and final season was announced, which was released on 27 June 2020.