Serienfieber Illustration einer Hand mit Fernbedienung © Colourbox / Image editing Goethe-Institut Los Angeles
© Colourbox / Image editing Goethe-Institut Los Angeles

Binge Fever!

Television “Made in Germany” is having a golden moment with the rise of international streaming services. German series that appeal to global audiences through smart and original writing, diverse themes, talented lineups and opulent productions have never received so much attention. In this dossier, we’ll highlight binge-worthy German serials and fill you in on where to watch them in the USA.
 

Key Art for the Amazon Prime series Sebastian Fitzek's Therapy © Amazon Prime

German Series in North America
 Sebastian Fitzek's "Therapy"

With no witnesses, no traces, and no corpse, Josy, the 13-year-old daughter of well-known psychiatrist Viktor Larenz, has disappeared in unexplained circumstances. Two years later, a mysterious woman appears. She forces Viktor to face up to his daughter's disappearance and pushes him to his psychological limits.

Mark Tompkins

Still Image from the Netflix Germany series Murder Mindfully © Netflix / Photo: Julia Terjung

German Series in North America Murder Mindfully

A burned-out Berlin defense attorney in thrall to a gangster takes a mindfulness course and finds enlightenment. Not the path of virtue, but the way to dispatch the biggest problem in his life - the gangster. But then he has to assume control of the gangster’s criminal operation himself. 

Josef Markus

Frederik Lau as Charly and Christoph Krutzler as Joseph in the Netflix Germ,any original series "Crooks". Courtesy of Netflix © 2024 © 2024 Netflix, Inc.

German Series in North America Crooks

With Crooks, Marvin Kren reunites the biggest names from 4 Blocks for a diverting hybrid of heist film and road movie. Speeding from Berlin to Vienna to Italy to Marseille, the thriller series offers so many cliffhangers and colorful character actors snarling at each other that the viewer never has time to ask whether it adds up to much.

Josef Markus

Key art from the streaming series "Pagan Peak" shows the protagonists in a snow-covered forest © SKY Germany

German series in North America
 Der Pass, a.k.a. Pagan Peak

Pagan Peak, adapts the now-familiar premise from the Danish series Bron, a.k.a. The Bridge:  The result is, unexpectedly, the best serial killer Krimi since Zodiac. Call it the definitive work of Alpine noir.

Mark Tompkins

I'm not a violent person, quite the opposite. For example, I've never been in a fight in my entire life, and I didn't kill my first person until I was 42.

Björn Diemel "Murder Mindfully"

Against the backdrop of a 1970s kitchen unit, Cassandra - a dark red robot with an attached tube screen showing a white woman with neck-length hair - holds a plate of sandwiches. © Netflix

German Series in North America
 "Cassandra" - When the Smart Home Goes Rogue

A home that organizes your everyday life, recognizes your preferences, and prepares dinner – sounds tempting? In “Cassandra”, it turns into a nightmare. This Netflix series gives the haunted-house genre a retro-futuristic twist.

Angela Zierow

Titelimage from the Warner Brothers Series "Almost Fly" © Warner TV

German Series in North America
 Almost Fly

Spring 1990: In a sleepy corner of the country still known as West Germany, two high school kids are struck by American hip-hop as if by lightning. They resolve to start rapping themselves, to the dismay of everyone around them. Welcome to Almost Fly. Whereas many streaming series attain the status of ‘binge-worthy’ through bloodcurdling suspense, this little jewel of shows keeps you watching with a different quality: a guileless charm.

Mark Tompkins

When Sisi falls in love with her cousin Franz Joseph, the Emperor of Austria, the tragedy plays out – because he was already engaged to her sister. Photo (detail): © Netflix

German Series in North America
 The Empress: A Rebel in a Gilded Cage

Are you one of those people rolling their eyes at the never-ending “Sisi” mania? Don’t despair! Netflix has knocked the proverbial dust off the celluloid legacy of Elisabeth, Empress of Austria and Hungary with “The Empress”. The series includes plenty of intrigue, rebellion at the palace, and a glimpse of skin.

Angela Zierow

We changed how people view the world forever. Nobody knows our story. But that's about to change...

The Billion Dollar Code

Key art from the Disney+ original series 'Deutsches Haus' shows the protagonists of the series against the silhouette of a concentration camp. © Disney+

German series in North America
 Complicit Followers - “The Interpreter of Silence”

How can we help young people understand the horrors of the Holocaust? Award-winning series creator Annette Hess demonstrates this in her bestselling adaptation “The Interpreter of Silence”, which focuses on Nazi crimes and the start of the Auschwitz trials in 1963. 

Angela Zierow

Key art from the Netflix Germany Series "The Signal" showing Peri Baumeister in the ISS © Netflix, Photo: Anika Molnar

German Series in North America
 The Signal

How many people still believe in extraterrestrials today? The new Netflix Germany series The Signal, starring Peri Baumeister, Florian David Fitz, and Yuna Bennett, explores the possibility of non-human life in space—and aims to do much more. 

Sascha Ehlert

Key art from the Netflix original series “Kleo” shownig the title character portrait by Jella Haase in a red tracksuit jacket holding a pistol ©Netflix, Photo Svenja Terjung

German Series in North America
 Kleo

1987: Shortly after liquidating a businessman in West Berlin on behalf of a secret Stasi commando, top East German spy Kleo is arrested, denounced by the Stasi and even betrayed by her own grandfather.

Josef Markus

Hanno Koffler as Hans Fittko, Deleila Piasko as Lisa Fittko, Cory Michael Smith as Varian Fry and Amit Rahav as Thomas Lovegrove in Transatlantic, Courtesy of Netflix © 2023 © Anika Molnar / Netflix

German Series in the USA
 Transatlantic

The series “Transatlantic” was inspired by the true story of American journalist Varian Fry and the Emergency Rescue Committee, which, during the time of the Vichy regime in France, aided over 2000 refugees, including numerous artists and intellectuals, in escaping from the Nazis.

Friedel Schmoranzer

Still image from the Amazon Original series "Luden Kings of the Reeperbahn" shows the title character Klaus Barkowsky portrayed by Aaron Hilmer in front of an Eros Center. © Amazon Prime Video

German Series in the USA
 The Pimp — No F***ing Fairy Tale

Loosely based on true events, the Prime Video series „Luden“ sets viewers loose in Hamburg’s infamous St. Pauli red-light district at its seedy late 1970s and ‘80s peak. Our entry point into this world is the young Klaus Barkowsky who forms the “Nutella gang,” an upstart band of pimps who take on the reigning cartel of flesh peddlers.

Mark Tompkins

Key Atrt from the Netflix series "The Billion Dollar Code"

German Series in the USA
 The Billion Dollar Code

Based on a true story, the Netflix miniseries The Billion Dollar Code recounts how two German developers sued Google for patent infringement, arguing that Google Earth blatantly appropriated their own Terravision program from the 1990s. 

Josef Markus

Nahaufnahme von "Lena" (dargestellt von Kim Riedle als Protagonistin von "Liebes Kind"), die ihr mit Prellungen übersätes Gesicht unter einer Sauerstoffmaske zeigt. © 2023 Netflix, Inc.

German Series in the USA
 “Dear Child” — Devious Mind Game: The Kidnapper in Your Head

Disturbing plot twists, brutal cliffhangers, plenty of creepy atmosphere, and in the middle of it all, a mysterious little girl: For thriller series like "Dear Child," the term "binge-watching" was invented.

Angela Zierow

Life is good under the Californian sun: The Kaulitz brothers © Netflix

German series in North America
 Brotherly love in LA: Kaulitz&Kaulitz

The Kaulitz brothers have already worn many hats. The next chapter is “Kaulitz & Kaulitz”. In this Netflix production, it’s all about the Kaulitz brothers themselves, but it’s in the carefully crafted presentation that their true strength lies.

Patrick Heidmann

Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo Titel © 2020 Constantin Television GmbH / Amazon Studios / Soap Images

German Series in the USA
 We Children from Bahnhof Zoo

Some 40 years after the twelve-part feature in Stern Magazine about the life of the then 16-year-old Christiane F. between drug abuse and child prostitution in West Berlin shook Germany to the core, the streaming service Amazon Prime is injecting an overdose of zeitgeist into the biography of Germany’s best-known junkie.

Angela Zierow

Still Frame from the Netflix Series "Barbarians" © Netflix / Phto: Katalin Vermes

German Series in the USA
 „Barbaren“ - Latin lessons on the battlefield

In the year 9 AD, several Germanic tribes unite to challenge the almost invincible Roman legions in a legendary battle: The battle in the Teutoburg Forest will change the history of Europe. At the center of this series about the bloody clash are three childhood friends who are linked by a tragic fate.

Angela Zierow

Still from the Series "Oktoberfest: Beer and Blood " © BR/ARD Degeto/MDR/WDR/Zeitsprung, Photo:Dusan Martincek

German Series in the USA
 Oktoberfest 1900: Beer and Blood

"Oktoberfest 1900" tells the story of two beer dynasties fight for supremacy at the world's largest festival. The series takes the audience to a fantastic and mysterious Munich at the turn of the century and unfolds a modern myth about fateful love and the inexorable rise of capitalism.

André Lavoie

This is my generation: Generation Z. Every single one of us has the entire knowledge of humankind in their pocket. We can get famous with one click, or we can change the world from our bedrooms. Limitless technological possibilities. And what do we do with it? Face-Swap.

Moritz Zimmermann in How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast), Season 1 Episode 1

Titelimage Netflix series "How To Sell Drugs Online (Fast)" © Netflix

German Series in the USA
 ​How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast)

Drug dealers have enjoyed even more popularity on Netflix than they did in the world of TV in the 1980s. To date, such series have tended to revolve around billionaire cartel bosses. By contrast, the first German-made drug tale is about an 18-year-old from Leipzig who goes by the name of “Shiny Flakes” on the darknet and in whose bedroom the cops discovered 320 kilograms of narcotics. (Not) a tutorial.  

Sascha Ehlert

Blum (Anna Maria Mühe) prepares the body of Eberhard Pichler (Robert Sadil) for burial. She holds a bone saw in her hand. © Mona Film/ Barry Films/ Stephan Burchardt

German Series in the USA
 Woman of the Dead

A picturesque mountain town conceals a criminal underworld that takes rich-guy privilege way past corruption into grotesque depravity, while the heroine is something of a sociopath herself, more comfortable communing with the dead than with human interaction. In this kind of crime thriller, trauma and psychoses make the world go round.

Josef Markus

Key art from the Disney+ original series "Sam - A Saxon" feature the title character Samuel Njankouo Meffire portrayed by Malick Bauer. © The Walt Disney Company

German Series in the USA
 “Sam — A Saxon” — From Cop to Convict

It took long enough, but now even Disney+ is investing in "Made in Germany" original productions – and is entering the scene with a hard-hitting story: "Sam - A Saxon" narrates the rise and fall of the first black police officer in East Germany.

Angela Zierow

Karl Lagerfeld, played by Daniel Brühl, is seen in a close-up. © Disney 2024

German Series in North America
 Double Vision: Stars becoming Stars

In the new streaming series “Becoming Karl Lagerfeld”, the fashion icon is brought to life by Daniel Brühl, a Marvel superstar. Their star-to-star biopic treatment is only one of many on the scene.

Jutta Brendemühl

Streaming Recommendations

We have compiled a fantastic selection of German films and series for you to enjoy that are currently available in the media libraries of the public broadcasters and on various streaming services in Germany. And best of all, they can be streamed for free,without registration or geoblocking.
Streaming Recommendations © Goethe-Institut e. V., Tobias Schrank