'Dark': Final series of time-travelling saga hits Netflix
June 26, 2020
On June 27, Netflix releases the third and last season of its psychological sci-fi series, Dark, the streaming service's first original German language series that has been a surprising international hit.
The first series, which aired in 2017, begins when two children disappear without a trace from the small fictitious German town of Winden. What could have been the starting point for a thriller quickly turns into a sci-fi saga.
Read more: 'Dark': First German Netflix series reinvents an old theme
The resolution of a small town mystery that travels through time with some bizarre twists has already drawn praise. "Dark season 3 might be the best series finale in sci-fi history," wrote entertainment website, Inverse.
'Best series' ranking
Earlier this year, users of Rotten Tomatoes, an American review-aggregation website for film and TV, chose Dark as the best Netflix Original series. There were 63 competitors, and the series was up against veritable hit shows including The Crown, Mindhunter and Peaky Blinders.
According to Rotten Tomatoes, the site recorded 2.5 million votes, and Dark won a massive 80% of the vote.
The protagonists meet their younger selves in the past or their older selves in the future, it will pay to stay focused when watching the final season unravel.
'Brittle artiness'
And though the series has often been compared with another hit mystery series, Stranger Things, which also features a missing child, Dark retains a peculiar German feel.
The bleak small town setting includes a nuclear reactor that echoes the filmmakers' own youth growing up in the midst of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986.
"With 'Dark' Netflix delivers science fiction with European roots," wrote the New York Times while contrasting the series with Stranger Things. "In place of the American show’s ceaseless adrenaline rush, 'Dark' offers a hushed, brittle artiness."
Dark season 3 streams worldwide on Netflix from June 27.