129 Fun Facts About Dark (Netflix)

In which country was Dark made?

Dark was made in Germany, with a German cast and crew, and is set in the fictional German town of Winden.

Which two people created Dark?

Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese created Dark together; the two are partners off-screen as well, with Friese serving as head writer.

How many seasons of Dark were made?

Dark has 3 seasons; Netflix confirmed the third would be the last, completing the creators' planned trilogy.

How many episodes of Dark are there in total?

Dark has 26 episodes in total; the series finale, 'The Paradise', ends with a dinner party in the origin world.

Which logical puzzle does Dark's plot structure make prominent use of?

The bootstrap paradox drives Dark: objects such as the time machine and its blueprint exist only because they are carried back through time, with no original cause.

Which actor leads Dark's ensemble cast as Jonas Kahnwald?

He won a Danish film award for playing a prisoner of war before Dark.

On what date did the first season of Dark premiere?

Dark's first season premiered on 1 December 2017, with every episode of the season released on Netflix the same day.

What are the four central families of Winden?

Kahnwald, Nielsen, Doppler and Tiedemann are Winden's four central families; the series opens with the Kahnwald family mourning Jonas's father.

In which year does the first season begin?

The first season begins in 2019, with Winden's teenagers searching the caves after a boy disappears; time travel then reaches back to 1986 and 1953.

Where is the wormhole located in Winden?

In the caves beneath the power plant is where the wormhole lies; Jonas follows a red cord through the tunnels to a steel door, behind which the passage links years a fixed cycle apart.

What is the name of the time-travel society introduced in season two?

The Latin means "Thus the World Was Created".

On what date does the apocalypse occur in Winden?

The apocalypse strikes Winden on June 27, 2020; the countdown to that day, marked episode by episode, structures the whole of the second season.

What does the third season introduce alongside the original reality?

A parallel world is introduced in the third season; in it Jonas was never born, and alternate versions of the main characters live out a mirrored loop.

Which new year is added as a storyline in season three?

Adult Jonas spends months there building a machine to reactivate the portal.

Where did the BBC rank Dark among the greatest TV series of the 21st century in 2021?

The BBC ranked Dark 58th in its 2021 critics' poll of the 100 greatest TV series of the 21st century, a list topped by The Wire.

Which musician composed Dark's opening theme "Goodbye"?

Apparat, the German electronic musician Sascha Ring, composed 'Goodbye', Dark's opening theme, first released on his 2011 album The Devil's Walk.

Who composed the score for Dark?

Ben Frost composed Dark's score; the Australian-born experimental musician had earlier scored the Arctic crime series Fortitude.

Which company produced Dark?

Wiedemann & Berg Television produced Dark; founders Quirin Berg and Max Wiedemann were executive producers, having earlier produced the Oscar-winning The Lives of Others.

Who directed every episode of Dark?

Baran bo Odar directed every episode of Dark, while co-creator Jantje Friese wrote or co-wrote each script.

What is Jonas known as when he appears as an adult time traveller?

The Stranger is the name given to the adult Jonas, played by Andreas Pietschmann, who guides his younger self from the shadows in the first season.

What is the elderly Jonas, leader of Sic Mundus, called?

Adam is the name the elderly Jonas takes as leader of Sic Mundus; disfigured by his time travel, he is played by Dietrich Hollinderbäumer.

Who plays the teenage Martha?

Lisa Vicari plays the teenage Martha; the Munich-born actress had already starred in Tim Fehlbaum's 2011 post-apocalyptic film Hell.

Which actress plays Eva, the elderly Martha who leads the rival faction?

Barbara Nüsse plays Eva, the elderly Martha; a veteran of German theatre, she appears only in the third season, when the rival faction's world is revealed.

What is the profession of Hannah, Jonas's mother?

Massage therapist is Hannah's profession; she works from a treatment table at home and blackmails the plant director in the first season.

Who plays the police officer Ulrich?

Oliver Masucci plays Ulrich; the German actor went on to portray Rainer Werner Fassbinder in the 2020 biopic Enfant Terrible.

What is Katharina Nielsen's job in 2019?

School principal is Katharina's job; she runs the Winden school that her own children and Jonas attend.

What is Charlotte Doppler's job in 2019?

Winden chief of police is Charlotte's post; she leads the search for the missing boys and is Ulrich's superior at the station.

Which of Charlotte and Peter's daughters is deaf?

In the alternate world it is Franziska who is deaf instead.

What is the title of the Winden clockmaker's book?

A Journey Through Time (Eine Reise durch die Zeit) is the clockmaker's book; it exists only as a bootstrap, a copy from the future reaching its author before he wrote it.

Who is Bartosz's father, the plant director in 2019?

Aleksander Tiedemann is Bartosz's father and the plant's director; he married Regina and took her surname after arriving in Winden as a fugitive in 1986.

What is Aleksander's real birth name?

Boris Niewald is Aleksander's real name; he arrived in Winden in 1986 carrying a pistol and papers in another man's name, which he kept for the rest of his life.

What business does Regina Tiedemann run?

A hotel is Regina's business, the struggling Waldhotel Winden, where the adult Jonas takes a room in the first season.

Who founded the Winden nuclear power plant?

Bernd Doppler founded the Winden nuclear power plant and ran it until 1986, covering up an accident whose waste was hidden in the caves.

Who succeeds the plant's founder as director of the power plant in 1986?

Claudia Tiedemann succeeds the founder as plant director in 1986; Egon's daughter and Regina's mother, she later becomes a time traveller herself.

What is Noah's real name?

Hanno Tauber is Noah's real name; born in Winden in the early 1900s, he joins the time travellers' lodge as a young man and takes the name Noah.

Who plays the priest Noah?

Mark Waschke plays the priest Noah; the German actor is also known as Kommissar Robert Karow in the long-running crime series Tatort.

Who is Noah's younger sister?

Agnes Nielsen is Noah's younger sister; she arrives in Winden in 1953 and lodges with the Tiedemann family.

Who is Silja Tiedemann's mother?

Hannah Kahnwald is Silja's mother; stranded in the 1950s, she has the child with Egon Tiedemann, making Silja Jonas's half-sister.

Who is the child known as the Unknown?

The son of Jonas and Martha is the Unknown; he appears as a boy, a man and an old man acting together, and is the origin of the knot, the root of every Winden family tree.

What is the name of the police inspector sent to Winden in 2020?

Clausen is the inspector who arrives in 2020 to lead the task force on the disappearances; he is the brother of the real Aleksander Köhler and suspects the plant director from the start.

Which real 1986 disaster is referenced in relation to the dead birds?

Chernobyl, the April 1986 reactor explosion in Soviet Ukraine, is the disaster invoked in 1986 Winden, where characters fret about contaminated rain and birds dropping dead.

Which of Ulrich and Katharina's children disappears in the first episode?

Mikkel, the youngest Nielsen child, vanishes in the caves during the first episode and wakes up in 1986, where the story's central loop begins.

Which local drug dealer had gone missing two weeks before the pilot?

Erik Obendorf is the missing dealer; his father Jürgen drives a truck for the power plant, and Erik's hidden stash is what the teenagers go hunting for in the caves.

What is the name of Ulrich's brother, who vanished in 1986?

Mads is Ulrich's younger brother, who vanished in 1986; his body, not a day older, turns up in the Winden woods in the first season.

Who does the boy who vanished in the pilot grow up to become?

Michael Kahnwald is the man the vanished boy becomes; raised by the nurse Ines, he marries Hannah, fathers Jonas and hangs himself in the series' opening scene.

What injury do the dead boys and the dead birds share?

Burst eardrums are found in the dead birds and in the boys' bodies, which also show burned skin and eyes, pointing to the same force behind both.

Which Winden resident is Jonas's therapist after his father's death?

Peter Doppler, Charlotte's husband, is the therapist Jonas sees in the first episode after returning from a psychiatric stay that followed his father's suicide.

What is in the package Regina delivers to Jonas from her hotel guest?

A light, a Geiger counter and a letter are in the package; the letter is the note Jonas's father left before his death, revealing who he really was.

On what date did Michael's letter say he travelled back to 1986?

He stayed, grew up, married Hannah and fathered Jonas.

How many years apart do the wormhole's connected time periods lie?

33 years separate the connected periods, so the 1950s, 1980s and 2010s line up; the clockmaker ties the figure to the 33-year cycle on which the sun and moon realign.

What false accusation does teenage Hannah make against Ulrich in 1986?

That he raped Katharina was Hannah's lie to the police; Egon arrested Ulrich and dismissed Katharina's own denial, seeding Ulrich's lifelong hatred of the policeman.

What object reaches the clockmaker after Ulrich's arrest in 1953?

A smartphone, Ulrich's, reaches the clockmaker in 1953 after the arrest; decades later he uses it to complete the brass time machine.

Whom does Ulrich bludgeon and leave for dead in 1953?

The nine-year-old Helge is Ulrich's victim; believing the boy will grow up to abduct the missing children, Ulrich beats him with a stone and leaves him for dead, but the boy survives.

How does the elderly Helge die in 1986?

Crashing his car into his younger self is how the elderly Helge dies in 1986; having travelled back from the future to stop the abductions, he rams the 1986 Helge's car head-on and dies in the wreck.

Where does Jonas wake up at the end of season one?

Post-apocalyptic Winden in 2052 is where Jonas wakes after the machine sends him forward instead of back; a gun-wielding survivor knocks him out in the ruins.

What is the title of Dark's very first episode?

Secrets (Geheimnisse) is the title of Dark's first episode; it introduces Winden on the night a boy vanishes in the caves and is followed by episodes called Lies and Past and Present.

What is the title of the season-one finale?

Alpha and Omega is the season-one finale; in it the adult Jonas reveals his identity to his younger self, and the episode ends with Jonas thrown forward into a ruined future.

In what year is young Noah building the passage that becomes the portal?

1921 is the year young Noah and a partner dig the tunnel that becomes the passage; Noah murders his companion with a pickaxe when the man loses faith in the cause.

Who leads the survivors in post-apocalyptic 2053 Winden?

The adult Elisabeth leads the survivors in 2053; she bars entry to the power plant's dead zone on pain of death and has Jonas seized when he first arrives.

What is the floating black blob in the power plant's Dead Zone called?

The God Particle is the name for the black mass in the dead zone; Claudia's video recordings teach Jonas that, once stabilised, it can be used as a portal to any date.

Who frees Jonas from the survivors' leader's custody in 2053?

Silja, her interpreter, frees Jonas from the survivors' leader; the girl leads him through the dead zone to the ruined plant, where he finds Claudia's recordings.

Who kills the elderly former plant director in the forest in 1954?

Noah shoots the elderly Claudia in the 1954 forest, moments after she has delivered the finished book to the clockmaker; he acts on orders from the lodge's leader.

What does the elderly former plant director give her younger self in 1987?

Coordinates of a buried time machine are what the elderly Claudia gives her 1987 self; Claudia digs up the suitcase device and uses it to visit her dying daughter in 2020.

Where does the injured Jonas find himself at the start of "The Travelers"?

Winden in 1921 is where Jonas lands after passing through the black mass; a young lodge member finds him in the tunnels and escorts him to meet its leader.

What does Noah reveal to Charlotte in season two?

That she is his daughter is what Noah tells Charlotte in season two; she was taken from her parents as a baby and given to the Winden clockmaker to raise.

Who convinces Michael that he must die so that Jonas can be conceived?

Old Claudia is the one who persuades Michael; after Jonas travels back to the day of his father's death to stop the suicide, she tells Michael he must hang himself for Jonas ever to be born.

What nickname does Helge give the woman he blames for his 1954 kidnapping?

Egon repeats it with his dying breath in 1987.

How does Egon Tiedemann die in 1987?

He slips during a struggle with Claudia and strikes his head; the 1987 Egon, already ill with cancer, dies on the spot, and Claudia leaves him there.

Who kills Noah in 1921?

His gun had failed to fire at Adam moments earlier.

Whom does Adam shoot in the season-two finale?

Martha Nielsen is shot dead by Adam in front of Jonas in the season-two finale, inside the Kahnwald house as the apocalypse begins.

What does the visiting inspector open in the power plant, triggering the apocalypse?

Drums of rocks soiled with dark matter are what the inspector has opened at the plant; unsealing the 1986 waste releases the black mass that tears Winden apart.

Where is the elderly Ulrich being held when Egon visits him in 1987?

A psychiatric hospital holds the elderly Ulrich in 1987; Egon visits him there, and Ulrich later slips out to reach his lost son in the town hospital.

Which teenage couple from present-day Winden become adult followers of Adam in 1921?

Magnus and Franziska, the teenage couple, become Adam's adult lieutenants in 1921, having travelled into the past with Jonas at the moment of the apocalypse.

What does the Unknown burn down in 1987?

He then assassinates Bernd Doppler and steals the plant keys.

In the alternate 2019, who is Hannah married to?

Ulrich Nielsen is Hannah's husband in the alternate world, where Katharina is his ex-wife and Jonas was never born.

How is Gustav, the 1888 industrialist, related to the Winden clockmaker?

He is his grandfather; Gustav, the 1888 factory owner, shelters Jonas's group and is obsessed with the lodge's dream of time travel, a passion his grandson the clockmaker inherits.

Who smothers the ailing Regina in September 2020?

The elderly Tronte smothers Regina with a pillow in September 2020, after the apocalypse, on Claudia's instruction; he believed Regina to be his own daughter.

What is the name of Eva's faction?

Erit Lux, Latin for 'there will be light', is the name of Eva's faction, the mirror image of the lodge Jonas's older self commands.

Who kills Katharina in 1987?

Helene Albers, Katharina's own mother, bludgeons her with a rock on the lakeshore in 1987 and pushes the body into the water.

Who shoots Jonas dead in Eva's world in "Life and Death"?

Another teenage Martha, a version from Eva's own world, shoots Jonas on Eva's orders after Eva tells him he has served his purpose.

Which two characters are the parents of Hanno and Agnes?

Bartosz and Silja are the parents of Hanno and Agnes; Silja, sent to the 1890s from the future, marries Bartosz and dies giving birth to Agnes around 1910.

Whom does Jonas murder in 1911 as he transforms into Adam?

He sends her daughter Silja to post-apocalyptic Winden.

What is the name of Claudia's dog?

Gretchen is Claudia's dog; she vanishes into the caves in 1986 and turns up in 1953, where the young Claudia adopts her.

What shape describes the knot linking Adam's and Eva's worlds?

The knot originated outside both their worlds.

Who created the time machine that split the origin world in two?

H. G. Tannhaus, the clockmaker, built the machine in the origin world in 1986; when he switched it on it failed to work as planned and instead split the world into two mirrored copies.

How is the cycle finally ended in the last episode?

By saving the clockmaker's family: Jonas and Martha enter the origin world and stop the 1971 car crash that killed his son's family, so the machine is never built and their worlds vanish.

Who is Hannah expecting a child with in the origin world?

Torben Wöller is Hannah's partner at the origin world's final dinner party; there the police officer is unhurt, unlike his bandaged counterparts in the other worlds.

What triggers Hannah's déjà vu at the dinner party in the final scene?

A yellow raincoat hanging by the door, glimpsed as the lights flicker, gives Hannah her moment of déjà vu; she then says she has always liked the name Jonas for the baby.

Which Nena song plays over the end credits of the series finale?

Irgendwie, irgendwo, irgendwann, Nena's 1984 hit, closes the series over the finale's end credits; the song had first been heard in the show's 1986 scenes.

Which vocal ensemble's recordings feature heavily in season one?

Roomful of Teeth, the Grammy-winning American vocal ensemble, supplies the recurring choral music heard as the teenagers enter the caves in season one.

In and around which city was Dark filmed?

Locations included Saarmund and Tremsdorf in Brandenburg.

Which landmark's gates stood in for the power plant gates?

The Olympic Stadium bell tower, the Glockenturm beside the stadium's Maifeld, supplied the gates and entrance used for the Winden power plant.

Where was the church where Jonas meets Noah filmed?

Stahnsdorf South-Western Cemetery, a vast graveyard just outside the city, lent its wooden chapel for Noah's church in Winden.

Where was the truck stop with Benni's caravan located?

The former Checkpoint Bravo, the Cold War crossing at Dreilinden on the city's south-western edge, served as the truck stop where Benni's caravan is parked.

In what resolution was Dark filmed?

4K is the resolution Dark was shot in, meeting Netflix's requirement that its original series be captured in ultra-high definition.

Which two shows did early critics most often compare Dark to?

Twin Peaks and Stranger Things were the touchstones early reviews reached for, the first for its small-town mystery and the second for its missing child and 1980s timeline.

What Rotten Tomatoes score did the second season receive?

100% is the second season's Rotten Tomatoes score, every counted review being positive; the first and third seasons scored lower.

Which German award did Dark win in 2018 in the Fiction category?

The Grimme-Preis, the most prestigious German television award, went to Dark in its 2018 Fiction category; the prize is presented each year in the town of Marl.

Which award did the actor who plays Jonas receive at the 2018 Goldene Kamera?

Best Newcomer was the prize given to Jonas's actor at the 2018 Goldene Kamera, the long-running German film and television award, presented that February in Hamburg.

In which month did the second season of Dark arrive on Netflix?

June is the month; the second season arrived on 21 June, the very date on which Jonas's father dies in the show's timeline.

What is the title of the first Ben Frost soundtrack album for the show?

It includes a track called "Kein DeLorean".

In which country was the show's director born?

Switzerland is where the director was born, in the town of Olten in 1978, before he grew up across the border and studied at the Munich film school.

Which 2014 hacker thriller did Odar and Friese write together before Dark?

Who Am I, the 2014 hacker thriller subtitled 'Kein System ist sicher', was co-written by Odar and Friese and starred Tom Schilling and Elyas M'Barek.

Which Hollywood thriller starring Jamie Foxx did Odar direct?

Sleepless, the 2017 remake of the French thriller Sleepless Night, is the Jamie Foxx film bo Odar directed, with Michelle Monaghan as an internal-affairs investigator.

What was the name of the second Netflix series Odar and Friese created?

1899 is the pair's second Netflix series, a multilingual mystery about migrants crossing the Atlantic on a steamship; Netflix cancelled it after a single season in January 2023.

What is the name of the steamship in Odar and Friese's follow-up series?

Kerberos is the steamship carrying the migrants in the follow-up series; its captain, Eyk Larsen, diverts it toward the Prometheus, a sister ship missing for four months.

Which Danish film won the actor who plays Jonas a Bodil Award before Dark?

Land of Mine (Under sandet), Martin Zandvliet's 2015 drama about German prisoners clearing Danish beaches of mines, brought the actor the Bodil for his role as Sebastian Schumann.

Which Mark Twain character gave the actor who plays Jonas his first film lead?

Tom Sawyer was the title role that gave the actor his first film lead, in Hermine Huntgeburth's 2011 adaptation, with Leon Seidel as Huck Finn.

Which infamous figure did the actor who plays Ulrich portray in Look Who's Back?

Adolf Hitler, awakened in the present day, is the role the actor played in the 2015 satire Look Who's Back, which mixed scripted scenes with candid reactions from passers-by.

In which Fantastic Beasts film did the actor who plays Ulrich portray Anton Vogel?

The Secrets of Dumbledore, the 2022 third Fantastic Beasts film, cast the actor as Anton Vogel, head of the International Confederation of Wizards.

In which 2020 Netflix film did the actress who plays Martha play the lead?

Isi & Ossi, a 2020 Netflix romantic comedy, starred the actress as Isi, a billionaire's daughter who fakes a romance with a boxer from the wrong side of town.

To which city did composer Ben Frost relocate in 2005?

Reykjavík is where Ben Frost moved in 2005, leaving Melbourne to join the Icelandic Bedroom Community label founded with Valgeir Sigurðsson and Nico Muhly.

How many one-hour episodes did Netflix approve for Dark's first season in February 2016?

Ten episodes were ordered when Netflix announced the series in February 2016; the count matched the first season's final run, each episode running close to an hour.

Which Berlin school served as the filming location for the Winden high school?

Reinfelder Schule, a school in Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, stood in for the Winden high school in the show's classroom and corridor scenes.

Which Caroline Shaw work featured prominently in season one via Roomful of Teeth?

Partita for 8 Voices, which won Caroline Shaw the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Music at 30, is the work whose Passacaglia movement recurs in season one.

Which song plays over the final dinner-party scene of the series finale?

Soap&Skin's 'What a Wonderful World', Anja Plaschg's spare piano cover of the Louis Armstrong standard, plays as the lights flicker over the origin world's dinner party and the screen goes black.

What Rotten Tomatoes approval rating did the third and final season receive?

97% is the third season's Rotten Tomatoes score, with critics broadly praising the finale for resolving the show's loops rather than leaving them open.

Which two Goldene Kamera 2018 acting nominations did Dark receive, without winning either?

Louis Hofmann did take home Best Newcomer at the same ceremony.

Which actress plays the elderly Ines Kahnwald, Jonas's adoptive grandmother?

Angela Winkler plays the elderly Ines; the veteran actress is best known abroad for the title role in The Lost Honour of Katharina Blum and as Oskar's mother in The Tin Drum.

Where did Odar and Friese's follow-up series 1899 hold its two-episode premiere in September 2022?

Toronto hosted the premiere of 1899 at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2022, two months before its Netflix launch that November.

Louis Hofmann, who plays Jonas, grew up in which German city?

Cologne is the city where the actor grew up, having been born in the Bensberg district of neighbouring Bergisch Gladbach in 1997.

Dark holds what distinction among Netflix's in-house productions?

First German-language original is Dark's distinction; Netflix announced it in early 2016, and it arrived after French and Italian originals such as Marseille and Suburra.

Besides Berlin, season one was shot in Saarmund and Tremsdorf, villages in which German state?

Brandenburg, the state that surrounds Berlin, contains Saarmund and Tremsdorf, the villages south-west of the capital used for season one's location shoots.

How were the Winden nuclear plant's reactor towers created for the show?

Computer-animated cooling towers were added digitally over the filmed entrance, since no real reactor stood at the location used for the plant's gates.

What Rotten Tomatoes approval rating did the first season of Dark receive?

Critics praised a slow-burning central mystery; seasons two and three climbed to 100% and 97%.

What Metacritic score did the second season of Dark earn?

IGN's David Griffin gave the season an 'amazing' 9 out of 10 and The Guardian and Empire each awarded four stars.

The recurring bus stop and T-intersection scene was shot at a driving academy in which town?

The truck stop with Benni's caravan was shot at Zollamt Berlin-Dreilinden, the former Checkpoint Bravo.

Alev Lenz's 'May the Angels', featuring Roomful of Teeth, plays in which season-two episode?

Roomful of Teeth had already supplied Caroline Shaw's Partita for 8 Voices to season one.

In which month and year did principal photography on Dark's first season begin?

October 2016 is when principal photography began; the shoot ran through the winter and wrapped in March 2017, some eight months before the series premiered.