Netflix loads up on German originals with five new titles

Netflix is set to produce five new German originals, following the success of 2018 supernatural drama Dark.

The new slate, launching at the start of 2019, was revealed by Kelly Luegenbiehl, Netflix’s vice president of original series for Europe, during the Medientage München media conference in Munich.

It will include a variety of genres ranging from crime drama to coming-of-age stories.

Gaumont-produced The Barbarians, will be an ambitious historical series that follows the bloody battles between Germanic tribes and the Roman Empire.

Skylines follows a young hip-hop producer that gets the chance of a lifetime when he signs with Skyline Records. It is produced by Komplizen Film and StickUp Films.

Wiedemann & Berg Television- produced Tribes of Europa is set in 2070 and picks up after a mysterious global catastrophe and explores what goes on in emerging micro-states in Europe.

Don’t Try This at Home sees a high-school student and his best friend launch Europe’s largest online drug business from a bedroom. It is a BTF Production and is directed by Lars Montag and Arne Feldhusen.

There will also be an untitled Christmas miniseries about one family’s crazy and emotional holidays, written by Katharina Eyssen and produced by Sommerhaus Film.

“We want to tell local stories with global appeal. We are excited to have found this in these five projects, which — each in their unique way — are both undeniably German and at the same time tell stories that are relevant to viewers all over the world,” said Luegenbiehl.

The titles add to Netflix’s current slate of three German originals, including Dark, Dogs of Berlin, which premieres on the service on 7 December, and The Wave.