Dark Trivia | 40 facts about the German Netflix original series

One of the most popular science-fiction series on Netflix is by far “Dark”. The series gained positive reviews, and was finished after 3 successful seasons.

1. Dark is a German science fiction thriller.
2. It is streaming on Netflix.
3. The television series was co-created by Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese.
4. It ran for three seasons from 2017 to 2020.
5. In the aftermath of a child’s disappearance, Dark follows characters from the fictional German town of Winden as they pursue the truth. They follow connections between four estranged families to unravel a sinister time travel conspiracy which spans several generations.
6. The series explores the existential implications of time, and its effect on human nature.
7. It features an ensemble cast including Louis Hofmann, Julika Jenkins, Andreas Pietschmann, Maja Schöne, Lisa Vicari, Lisa Kreuzer, Dietrich Hollinderbäumer, Jördis Triebel and Oliver Masucci.
8. Dark debuted on 1 December 2017 on Netflix.
9. It’s the first German-language Netflix original series.
10. The second season was released on 21 June 2019.
11. The third and final season was released on 27 June 2020.
12. Dark received critical acclaim, with praise for its tone, visuals, acting, casting, musical score, and the ambition and complexity of its narrative.
13. The first season takes place primarily in 2019 but expands to include stories set in 1986, 1953.
14. In the final scene of the first season we are transferred into 2052.
15. Several characters portrayed at various ages by multiple actors.
16. 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.
17. The third season introduces a storyline based in 1888 and a parallel reality featuring alternate versions of many main characters.
19. Many of the forrest scenes were filmed at the Fahrtechnikakademie Kallinchen near Berlin.
20. This place is a former military testing area of the German Democratic Republic
21. 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”.
22. 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.
23. 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.
24. 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.
25. The haunting intro song named ‘Goodbye’ is from the German musician Apparat. This song has been used for various movie trailers and TV shows.
26. 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’.
27. Ahead of the season 2 release in June 2019 the show was renewed for a third (and final) season by Netflix.
28. 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”).
29. 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.
30. Photography by Nikolaus Summerer has a distinctive personality, having either an object or a shade of yellow in every single take.
31. Filmed using the Univisium aspect ratio, 2.0 to 1.
32. Principal photography started on October 18, 2016 in and around Berlin.
33. Director Baran bo Odar and producers Max Wiedemann / Quirin Berg previously collaborated on Who Am I – Kein System ist sicher (2014).
34. Some kind of clock (wall clock, wrist clock, alarm clock) is visible in almost every scene taking place indoor.
35. Carina Wiese (Franziska Doppler) and Sylvester Groth (Investigator Clausen) are together in Deutschland 86 (2018), which takes place in 1986 as well.
36. If a “clock ticking” is heard between scene changes, that means the timeline also changed.
37. In the third season, you can distinguish between the three worlds by noticing the aspect ratio of the scenes. The origin world has the widest aspect ratio.
38. In a scene of S2E1, there is a note in Noah’s book that dated June 27th, 2020 as “Begining of Last Cycle” which is also the release date of season 3, the last season.
39. There are frequent references to the Twix chocolate bar which was sold in Germany under the name Raider (from 1976 to 1991). When Ulrich finds the chocolate bar with the name Raider, it is hinted at that it is from the 1980s.
40. The T-Shirt of one of the dead children reads: “Atomkraft, nein danke” which was the slogan of the German anti-nuclear movement in the 1980s.