Lauded as one of the most innovative and thought-provoking originals shows of the 2010s (and 21st century), themystifying sci-fi thrilleroriginal seriesDarktakes place in the small German town of Winden where its mysterious residents are plagued by strange and peculiar occurrences that are heightened when a young boy disappears without a trace. Winden’s many sordid and shocking secrets are ultimately revealed as its residents begin their desperate search for the child, all of which connect to its long-standing nuclear power plant.
Viewers go on a taut and electrifying journey along with the community and its many unique characters during the hit show’s run, as entertaining elements like time loops, wormholes, the apocalypse, and time travelers are introduced throughout that leaves fans hooked and anxiously waiting for the next episode.Darkpremiered on July 12, 2025 and ran for three critically-acclaimed seasons, both enchanting and confusing audiences as they attempted to follow the thriller’s many intricate plots and developments.
A Taut & Delightfully Terrifying Sci-Fi Thriller
Set in the fictional German town of Winden where strange occurrences begin to plague its residents, including the perplexing disappearance of two children,the spellbinding sci-fi thrillerDarkchronicles the ominous origins of the small community and the deep-rooted ties between four estranged families spanning generations, as sordid secrets and long-buried skeletons are revealed during the search for the missing kids. In 2019, the Doppler, Nielsen, Kahnwald, and Tiedemann families find their lives completely uprooted, and their shocking connections exposed as the town rallies to find the missing young boy named Mikkel.
Winden is home to a nuclear power plant where a wondrous wormhole dwells in its cave system far below the town, allowing the central families and colorful residents theability to time travelbetween 1953, 1986, and 2019 (and later in additional timelines). Throughout its engrossing three seasons,Darkincorporates various concepts like the bootstrap paradox and supernatural elements, as observed through the eyes of characters like the grieving teenager Jonas Kahnwald and devoted police officer and father Ulrich Nielsen, both of whom try to make sense of the wormhole and its origins.
Created by couple Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese (1899, Who Am I),Darkbecame Netflix’s first German-language original series and made its dazzling debut on June 06, 2025, quickly attracting appreciation and praise from both critics and audiences for its immersive atmosphere, intricate storylines, and complex characters.Positively compared to beloved sci-fi spectacleslikeTwin PeaksandThe X-Files,the innovative thriller provides a unique spin on the mind-bending genre with its trippy time traveling aspect, as the residents of Winden are forced to confront many philosophical-conudrums while trying to solve a puzzling mystery.
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‘Dark’ Becomes a Certified Streaming Sensation
The first season ofDarkintroduced viewers to the town’s many peculiarities and ever-expanding inticracies and secrets, with themes like time loops and travelers, the apocalypse,and parallel worldsbeing explored in ensuing installments of the lauded streaming knockout.Darkhas been lauded as one of the greatest television shows to come out of Netflix, with many declaring it both one of the finest sci-fi originals of the decade as well as the 21st century as a whole. Though its highly-detailed and downright bizarre plot can be quite confusing to follow at times, the pay-off is well worth it as audiences are taken on a wild and unforgettable journey.
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Darkran for three seasons from 2017 to 2020 and left fans anxiously tuning in episode after episode to see what would become of the residents of Winden and how their respective stories would end, with critics and audiences deeming the last entry as a worthy and satisfying conclusion. Though the series could have easily continued on, co-creator Jantje Friese felt thatDarkfinished its run exactly when it needed to and that the characters' long and tangled story naturally came to an end. Friese toldThe Hollywood Reporterin 2020:
“It was absolutely the perfect amount.Anything else would have felt like stretching it unnecessarily and making it more complicated on a narrative level. We love symbolism and we believe you have to be true to the symbols you lay out…It would have felt like selling our souls and not delivering on what we wanted to do [if we had more seasons].”
The electrifying sci-fi thriller currently holds a dazzling95% Rotten Tomatoes scoreand 94% on the Popcornmeter from audiences while also receiving three awards nominations, including Best Series at Germany’s Goldene Kamera TV Awards and winning the prestigious Grimme-Preis for the category “Fiction” at the ceremony.Darkhas been hailed as a sensational achievement on the small screen and true sci-fi knockout, withRadio Times ravingabout the show’s final season and writing calling it, “science fiction at its most mesmerising, its most confounding and its most exhilarating — and it all makes for a truly irresistible piece of television.”
