If you’re hunting tonight for a curated list of German TV Shows on Netflix, this guide favors quality over noise while staying viewer‑friendly. We checked audience reception, critical chatter, and renewal status to surface German‑language picks that balance craft, momentum, and personality; availability is U.S.‑focused and can rotate.
Below you’ll get tight bullets followed by eight‑sentence, story‑first blurbs for each title, so you can match tone to mood quickly. Expect concise metadata, cultural context, and pointers on who will enjoy each pick among the landscape of German TV Shows on Netflix.
Our handpicked guide to German TV Shows on Netflix
Top starters within German TV Shows on Netflix
1. Dark
- Seasons: 3 (2017–2020)
- Episodes: 26
- Starring: Louis Hofmann, Lisa Vicari, Andreas Pietschmann
- Creator/Showrunner: Baran bo Odar & Jantje Friese
- Sub-genre tags: sci‑fi mystery, time loops, family saga
- IMDb Rating: 8.7/10
In a small German town, a missing boy exposes fissures of grief, secrecy, and fate that ripple through four intertwined families. Dark treats causality like a trap, building a puzzle where every answer births another question. The show’s chiaroscuro visuals and foreboding score turn caves, forests, and classrooms into haunted archives. Performances balance intimate sorrow with apocalyptic dread, grounding the physics in bruised human choices. Its braided timelines reward attentive viewing without ever talking down to the audience. Mysterious iconography and cyclical motifs seed theories that deepen rather than deflate on rewatch. Seasonal finales feel inevitable and shocking, a rare double effect in serialized storytelling. If you want a cerebral gateway into German TV Shows on Netflix, this is the defining masterpiece.
2. Babylon Berlin
- Seasons: 4 (2017– )
- Episodes: 48+
- Starring: Volker Bruch, Liv Lisa Fries, Peter Kurth
- Creator/Showrunner: Tom Tykwer, Achim von Borries, Henk Handloegten
- Sub-genre tags: period noir, Weimar Republic, crime epic
- IMDb Rating: 8.4/10
Against the decadent swirl of late‑1920s Berlin, a war‑scarred detective and an ambitious typist crash into conspiracies. Cabaret glitz and street‑level poverty collide, rendering a city teetering between liberation and catastrophe. Tracking shots and live‑wire set pieces thread musical bravura through a hard‑boiled procedural spine. Political factions, criminal syndicates, and the looming shadow of fascism tighten like a noose each season. The partnership at its core mutates across class lines, ideals, and unspoken attractions. Production design turns every club, newsroom, and rail yard into tactile history you can almost breathe. It’s engrossing whether you come for the mystery, the romance, or the macro‑history simmering at the edges. For viewers mapping prestige corners of German TV Shows on Netflix, this is the lush, immersive landmark.
3. How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast)
- Seasons: 3 (2019–2021)
- Episodes: 18
- Starring: Maximilian Mundt, Danilo Kamber, Lena Klenke
- Creator/Showrunner: Philipp Käßbohrer & Matthias Murmann
- Sub-genre tags: teen crime, startup satire, coming‑of‑age
- IMDb Rating: 7.8/10
A heartbroken nerd launches an online drug business to impress his ex and accidentally builds a dangerous empire. The series splices screencasts, mock tutorials, and whip‑smart narration into kinetic storytelling. Friendship friction becomes the algorithmic bug no pivot can fix, driving choices beyond the balance sheet. Its tone slides from breezy to breathless as rivals, police, and parents close in. Beneath the jokes, it skewers hustle culture and the illusion of safe distance on the internet. Performances keep the moral slide painfully likable until it isn’t. Episodes end with hooks sharp enough to binge without blinking. As a pop‑savvy entry in German TV Shows on Netflix, it’s both cautionary and compulsively fun.
4. Kleo
- Seasons: 1 (2022– )
- Episodes: 8+
- Starring: Jella Haase, Dimitrij Schaad, Julius Feldmeier
- Creator/Showrunner: Hanno Hackfort, Richard Kropf, Bob Konrad
- Sub-genre tags: spy thriller, dark comedy, Cold War aftermath
- IMDb Rating: 7.5/10
A former Stasi assassin is betrayed, imprisoned, and unleashed after the Berlin Wall falls, hunting answers across Europe. Kleo shifts from candy‑colored kitsch to brutal reckonings with a wink that never blinks. Fight scenes play like choreography inside a pop‑art diorama of 1990s reunification. The protagonist’s deadpan joy in chaos complicates questions of justice, loyalty, and reinvention. Needle‑drops and disguises fuel a cat‑and‑mouse romp that still lands emotional punches. Side characters evolve from caricatures into co‑conspirators with their own warped ideals. The season stacks reveals with a confidence that dares you to guess wrong. Stylish and sly, it’s an instant mood‑booster among German TV Shows on Netflix.
Rising and recent favorites across German TV Shows on Netflix
5. The Empress
- Seasons: 1 (2022– )
- Episodes: 6+
- Starring: Devrim Lingnau, Philip Froissant, Melika Foroutan
- Creator/Showrunner: Katharina Eyssen
- Sub-genre tags: period romance, court intrigue, biographical
- IMDb Rating: 7.8/10
A rebellious Bavarian duchess marries into the Habsburg court and collides with ritual, politics, and expectation. The series reframes imperial pomp as a gilded cage, testing love against statecraft. Costumes and candlelit corridors whisper of power arranged by etiquette and rumor. Its focus on youth, agency, and image makes old palaces feel startlingly modern. Rivalries bloom into plots where alliances change with a glance. Romance serves as both refuge and battlefield in a world allergic to vulnerability. It’s sumptuous yet nimble, balancing swoon with sharp characterization. For costume‑drama fans browsing German TV Shows on Netflix, it’s a decadent first stop.
6. Barbarians
- Seasons: 2 (2020–2022)
- Episodes: 12
- Starring: Laurence Rupp, Jeanne Goursaud, David Schütter
- Creator/Showrunner: Andreas Heckmann, Arne Nolting, Jan Martin Scharf
- Sub-genre tags: historical action, Roman Empire, rebellion
- IMDb Rating: 7.2/10
On the edge of the Roman Empire, an adopted Germanic officer turns against his occupiers and rallies a divided people. The show builds toward the Teutoburg Forest clash with muddy, visceral urgency. Camps, villages, and tribunals feel lived‑in, not staged, amplifying the stakes of every oath. Language choices honor cultural fractures that war attempts to flatten. Personal loyalties strain under the weight of tribal survival and imperial arrogance. Skirmishes are readable and brutal, prioritizing tactics over gore for gore’s sake. Its second season widens the map without losing the intimate conflicts that ignite it. As rugged adventure within German TV Shows on Netflix, it’s a muscular crowd‑pleaser.
7. Dear Child (Liebes Kind)
- Seasons: 1 (2023)
- Episodes: 6
- Starring: Kim Riedle, Naila Schuberth, Sammy Schrein
- Creator/Showrunner: Isabel Kleefeld & Julian Pörksen
- Sub-genre tags: psychological thriller, missing persons, mystery
- IMDb Rating: 7.3/10
After a woman escapes captivity with a child, investigators unravel a past that refuses to stay buried. Each episode reframes the crime through shifting perspectives that complicate easy answers. Quiet domestic spaces become arenas of dread where routines hide coded control. Performances anchor the twists in grief, guilt, and fragile new freedom. Flashbacks drip clues that click into place with cold precision. It marries page‑turner pacing with empathy for survivors and their circles. The finale resolves threads without erasing lingering scars. A taut recommendation for true‑crime devotees exploring German TV Shows on Netflix.
8. King of Stonks
- Seasons: 1 (2022)
- Episodes: 6
- Starring: Thomas Schubert, Matthias Brandt, Larissa Sirah Herden
- Creator/Showrunner: Philipp Käßbohrer & Matthias Murmann
- Sub-genre tags: satire, finance, tech scandal
- IMDb Rating: 6.9/10
A swaggering fintech founder and his fixer ride hype cycles straight into fraud, PR wildfires, and moral sinkholes. The show lampoons startup theater where optics outrun products and truth becomes a variable. Boardrooms, launch parties, and late‑night war rooms blur into a fever dream of spin. Secondary players weaponize loyalty, romance, and regulation when the money turns imaginary. Visual gags and headline riffs keep the tone fizzy even as consequences bite. It’s a character study of ambition as performance art, equal parts cringe and catharsis. If you followed real‑world scandals, the parallels are sharp but never slavish. Slick and biting, it’s a timely pick among German TV Shows on Netflix.
Genre diversifiers to round out German TV Shows on Netflix
9. The Billion Dollar Code
- Seasons: 1 (2021)
- Episodes: 4
- Starring: Leonard Scheicher, Marius Ahrendt, Seumas F. Sargent
- Creator/Showrunner: Oliver Ziegenbalg & Robert Thalheim
- Sub-genre tags: true story, courtroom drama, tech origin
- IMDb Rating: 7.6/10
Two Berlin artists‑engineers claim their 1990s software inspired what the world later knew as Google Earth. The miniseries toggles between euphoric invention and a grueling courtroom showdown. Friendship strains under the weight of intellectual property and institutional muscle. Flashbacks capture the scrappy thrill of building world‑changing tools in cramped studios. Lawyers translate creativity into exhibits while memories refuse tidy narratives. Performances thread idealism through disillusion without bitterness. It invites viewers to consider who gets credited when vision meets scale. For tech‑history buffs browsing German TV Shows on Netflix, it’s a compact, compelling watch.
10. Perfume (Parfum)
- Seasons: 1 (2018)
- Episodes: 6
- Starring: Friederike Becht, Wotan Wilke Möhring, August Diehl
- Creator/Showrunner: Philipp Kadelbach; inspired by Patrick Süskind
- Sub-genre tags: crime thriller, literary adaptation, obsession
- IMDb Rating: 7.1/10
A brutal murder pulls former boarding‑school friends into a perfume‑obsessed investigation of control and desire. The series reimagines Süskind’s themes for modern forensics and fractured memory. Olfactory metaphors become clues, motives, and emotional detonators. Cold palettes and wooded backdrops soak scenes in unease and ritual. Detectives navigate lies aging like bad cologne among the privileged and damaged. It asks whether intimacy can be engineered or only counterfeited. The case’s revelations sting long after the procedural dust settles. Moody and macabre, it lingers with a fragrance of dread you won’t soon forget.
11. Criminal: Germany
- Seasons: 1 (2019)
- Episodes: 3
- Starring: Eva Meckbach, Sylvester Groth, Florence Kasumba
- Creator/Showrunner: George Kay & Jim Field Smith (franchise)
- Sub-genre tags: interrogation room, anthology, crime drama
- IMDb Rating: 7.2/10
Three bottle‑episode interrogations turn a bare room into a psychological chessboard. The camera studies tells, silences, and power shifts like forensic evidence. Each case compresses backstory and motive into tense conversational knife fights. Detectives confront the ethics of persuasion when truth and confession diverge. Minimalism sharpens every gesture until a glance feels like a twist. Guest performances crackle without overshadowing the ensemble’s wary rapport. It’s perfect when you crave tight drama without plot sprawl. A crisp, low‑commitment entry for anyone sampling German TV Shows on Netflix.
12. Charité
- Seasons: 3 (2017–2021)
- Episodes: 18
- Starring: Alicia von Rittberg, Mala Emde, Ulrich Noethen
- Creator/Showrunner: Dorothee Schön & Sabine Thor‑Wiedemann
- Sub-genre tags: medical period drama, Berlin, anthology seasons
- IMDb Rating: 7.6/10
Across different eras, Berlin’s famed Charité hospital becomes a crossroads of science, politics, and personal sacrifice. Each season spotlights new figures and pressures—from epidemics to wartime triage. The show honors discovery as collaborative, messy, and often ethically fraught. Sets and costumes reconstruct laboratories and wards with near‑documentary care. Patients’ stories frame theories as urgent, human stakes rather than chalkboard abstractions. Doctors navigate sexism, nationalism, and scarcity alongside disease. Breakthroughs arrive as much from empathy as from apparatus. It’s an edifying addition to German TV Shows on Netflix for history‑minded viewers.
13. Tribes of Europa
- Seasons: 1 (2021)
- Episodes: 6
- Starring: Henriette Confurius, Emilio Sakraya, David Ali Rashed
- Creator/Showrunner: Philip Koch
- Sub-genre tags: post‑apocalyptic, adventure, sibling quest
- IMDb Rating: 6.7/10
In 2074, three siblings are split by warring factions after a crashed aircraft ignites a power struggle over a mysterious cube. The world‑building carves distinct cultures from the bones of a collapsed Europe. Action sequences sprint through forests, ruins, and scrapyard citadels. The siblings’ diverging paths braid hope, brutality, and uneasy alliances. Production values punch above budget with inventive sets and prop design. It mixes YA propulsion with geopolitical imagination. Cliffhangers tease a wider mythology that begs expansion. For genre experimenters cataloging German TV Shows on Netflix, it’s swift and stylish.
14. Dogs of Berlin
- Seasons: 1 (2018)
- Episodes: 10
- Starring: Felix Kramer, Fahri Yardim, Anna Maria Mühe
- Creator/Showrunner: Christian Alvart
- Sub-genre tags: crime thriller, Berlin underworld, partner cops
- IMDb Rating: 7.3/10
A star footballer’s murder turns Berlin into a powder keg where politics and turf wars collide. Two mismatched detectives chase leads that expose mob ties, far-right thugs, and rot closer to home. The series uses neon nights and bleak daylight to map a city split by power and identity. Casework doubles as character study as both cops test their own codes. Street-level set pieces snap with danger while the investigation keeps twisting the knife. Side plots about debt, family, and reputation ground the thriller mechanics. It’s gritty without drowning in cynicism, letting small mercies flicker in the dark. If you want a muscular cop saga currently streaming in the U.S. catalog, this one delivers momentum and bite.
15. Biohackers
- Seasons: 2 (2020–2021)
- Episodes: 12
- Starring: Luna Wedler, Jessica Schwarz, Benno Fürmann
- Creator/Showrunner: Christian Ditter
- Sub-genre tags: biotech thriller, campus mystery, conspiracy
- IMDb Rating: 6.7/10
A first‑year med student enters Freiburg’s elite program with a secret mission tied to a family tragedy. Lab rivalry and DIY genetics mix with crushes, roommates, and late‑night hacking sessions. Clues stitch together through flashbacks, class projects, and ethically gray experiments. The faculty’s charisma hides research agendas that rewrite lines between cure and control. Friendships bend under pressure as whistleblowing collides with survival. The show keeps the science snappy without losing the human stakes. Each season crescendos into choices that can’t be undone. Tight, twisty, and modern, it’s a brisk binge with ideas to argue about after the credits.
16. The Signal
- Seasons: 1 (2024)
- Episodes: 4
- Starring: Florian David Fitz, Peri Baumeister, Yuna Bennett
- Creator/Showrunner: Sebastian Hilger, Philipp Leinemann
- Sub-genre tags: sci‑fi mystery, family thriller, conspiracy
- IMDb Rating: 6.2/10
When an astronaut vanishes, her family decodes breadcrumbs that suggest a discovery too dangerous to reveal. Flashbacks to space missions reflect against a terrestrial hunt full of locked doors. Domestic scenes carry dread as ordinary routines feel booby‑trapped by secrets. The mystery escalates with measured reveals rather than cheap fake‑outs. Performances keep grief and wonder in delicate balance. Visuals toggle between intimate close‑ups and chillier, tech‑steeped vistas. The limited series format gives it urgency without bloat. Come for the hook, stay for the emotional afterburn.
17. Sleeping Dog
- Seasons: 1 (2023)
- Episodes: 6
- Starring: Max Riemelt, Luise von Finckh, Carlo Ljubek
- Creator/Showrunner: Noah Stollman, Ori Rotem (adaptation)
- Sub-genre tags: crime mystery, legal thriller, past sins
- IMDb Rating: 6.5/10
A disgraced detective living on the streets is jolted back to life by a death that shouldn’t have happened. Old cases rattle their chains as fresh bodies and buried evidence resurface. A prosecutor with something to prove becomes an uneasy ally. Each episode peels back institutional mistakes with unnerving precision. Memory, guilt, and doubt fight for control of every decision. Tight writing favors revelations that feel earned rather than engineered. Performances simmer, then flare when truth lands. It’s a chilly, satisfying spiral into the costs of closure.
18. Crooks
- Seasons: 1 (2024– )
- Episodes: 8
- Starring: Frederick Lau, Christoph Krutzler, Svenja Jung
- Creator/Showrunner: Marvin Kren
- Sub-genre tags: heist, crime saga, chase across Europe
- IMDb Rating: 6.6/10
A priceless coin drags a retired safecracker back into a world of debts and double‑crosses. What begins in Berlin ricochets through Marseille, Vienna, and beyond. The show blends bruising action with hang‑out humor and found‑family tenderness. Criminal codes clash with parental instincts as danger closes in. Stylish needle‑drops and lived‑in locations give every city its own pulse. The antagonists feel human, not cartoonish, which sharpens the stakes. Episode endings pivot from triumph to trouble with wicked timing. Fans of propulsive capers will find plenty to savor.
19. Close to Home: Murder in the Coalfield
- Seasons: 1 (2022)
- Episodes: 6
- Starring: Mišel Matičević, Odine Johne, Marc Hosemann
- Creator/Showrunner: Till Franzen, Laura Lackmann
- Sub-genre tags: small‑town noir, cold case, character drama
- IMDb Rating: 6.4/10
A detective returns to his East German hometown where a teenager’s murder dredges up older wounds. Industrial landscapes and lakes reclaiming mines shape the mood. Locals guard secrets that blur witness and suspect categories. The investigation probes class, loyalty, and the long shadow of reunification. Personal history complicates every interview. The pacing favors accumulation over shock, but the payoffs land. By the finale, truth feels costly rather than cleansing. It’s thoughtful crime storytelling with a strong sense of place.
20. Oktoberfest: Beer & Blood
- Seasons: 1 (2020)
- Episodes: 6
- Starring: Mišel Matičević, Martina Gedeck, Klaus Steinbacher
- Creator/Showrunner: Ronny Schalk, Christian Limmer (creators); Hannu Salonen (director)
- Sub-genre tags: period crime, business rivalry, Munich 1900
- IMDb Rating: 7.0/10
At the dawn of the 20th century, an ambitious brewer muscles into Munich’s biggest stage. Family honor and market share become weapons in a brutal expansion war. Velvet interiors and muddy fairgrounds capture boomtown extremes. Schemes escalate as romance and revenge cross‑pollinate. The show relishes strategy as much as bloodshed. Performers bring combustible charisma to every negotiation. History buffs and drama lovers meet in the middle. It’s a rich, self‑contained binge with old‑world swagger.
21. Skylines
- Seasons: 1 (2019)
- Episodes: 6
- Starring: Edin Hasanović, Peri Baumeister, Murathan Muslu
- Creator/Showrunner: Dennis Schanz
- Sub-genre tags: music industry, organized crime, Frankfurt
- IMDb Rating: 6.9/10
A gifted producer signs to a hot label only to find it entangled with dangerous players. Beats and street politics collide in studios, clubs, and cramped apartments. The A&R dream curdles into survival mode as favors come due. Visually, the show marries gloss with grit to mirror the scene’s contradictions. Friendships and family obligations complicate every move. Performances sell the thrill of ascent and the fear of the fall. The season builds to choices that separate artists from operators. Short, sharp, and stylish, it scratches both crime and music‑drama itches.
About German TV and Netflix
For years, international distribution hurdles kept many acclaimed German series out of mainstream U.S. reach; streaming collapsed those walls. Netflix’s investment in co‑productions and licensing created a pipeline where creators could pitch audacious concepts—from knotty sci‑fi to lush period drama—knowing they’d meet global audiences hungry for distinct voices.
As these shows travel, they’re also reshaping expectations: viewers now embrace subtitles, accents, and regional history as features, not barriers. That shift is why this guide foregrounds character, craft, and tone—so you can find the right watch for tonight without wading through endless tiles.
Conclusion
Whether you crave cerebral mysteries, political spectacle, or sleek capers, this snapshot of German TV Shows on Netflix should help you press play with confidence. For deeper industry context and interviews about German and international TV, browse the latest coverage at Variety and the feature reporting at The Hollywood Reporter.
Catalog snapshot: September 26, 2025. Availability may change by region and date; always confirm in‑app before watching.
