Netflix announced a variety of new German-language original films and series today and also previewed footage of previously unseen programming from the region of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

The worldwide streaming company said these projects are part of their push into local content, which included a doubling of investments to $570 million (500 million euros) between 2021 and 2023.

As part of the company’s virtual “Netflix Content Remote Show,” executives of Netflix’s team in the three German-language countries presented teasers and clips of upcoming programming as well as prominent content creators and performers. 

Hadnet Tesfai, a German actress, born in Eritrea, hosted the event and showcased five films, nine series, and five non-fiction titles.

New Netflix German-language Series Projects

Murder and crime storylines feature in several high-profile shows on the series lineup. Steffi Ackermann, director of local-language series for the Germanic region, revealed several new Deutsche sprache (German language) shows for the streamer.

Amongst the notable series were: 

• Achtsam Morden (Killing Mindfully); based on the Karsten Dusse novel of the same name, which has been on top of German bestseller lists for months. The book tells the story of a successful lawyer seeking a new work-life balance to save his marriage. To help find that balance, he joins a mindfulness seminar but accidentally becomes a murderer in the process.
• Another new series includes Kleo, a former female Stasi killer from the German Democratic Republic (GDR – East Germany, Soviet-era) who begins a vendetta in newly reunified Berlin. 
• Possibly more of a psychological thriller, Liebes Kind (Dear Child—currently the working title) is a series based on the novel by Romy Hausmann, which explores “human abysses in their darkest depths” and “the power of obsession.”
• Among other shows on the Netflix German-language slate were the previously unseen Totenfrau, a revenge thriller focused on a female undertaker (performed by Dogs of Berlin‘s Anna Maria Mühe) based on a novel series by Bernhard Aichner. Nicolai Rohde directs the series as a co-production with ORF, an Austrian public broadcaster. 
• King of Stonks, which had the previous working title Cable Cash, comes from the creators of How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast). This series is promoted as being inspired by actual events in the world of finance and explores narcissism and megalomania.
• Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese, the co-creators of the hit drama Dark, promoted their upcoming period horror/mystery series 1899. The series is about a group of European migrants who depart London on a steamship to start afresh in New York City, but on the open sea, they encounter another migrant ship adrift. Their journey quickly turns into a nightmare.

Ackermann also showed the first footage from the period drama The Empress, a dark saga of Sissi of Austria, the consort of Emperor Franz Joseph.

New Film Projects

Sasha Bühler, Director International Original Film at Netflix EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa), revealed new movie projects: 

• Faraway, about a woman looking for happiness from director Vanessa Jopp, and a thriller with the working title 
• Paradise (working title.) Set in the near-future where people can buy eternal youth, provided they can afford it, from director Boris Kunz. 
• Blood and Gold, a new spaghetti western set at the end of WWII, from Peter Thorwarth (Blood Red Sky).

Bühler also showed off some of the first footage from previously announced films that Netflix currently has in production. An adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque’s famous WWI novel All Quiet on the Western Front from director Edward Berger was among them. 

Also shown was footage from Buba, a prequel about the How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast) character Jakob “Buba” Otto, a small-time drug dealer portrayed by Bjarne Mädel.

New Non-Fiction Projects

Inga Leschek, Netflix’s director of non-fiction projects for the German-language region (and Central and Eastern Europe, plus Russia), promoted the upcoming Queer Eye Germany. Inga also highlighted the streaming company’s success with true-crime and reality programming. She said her team would launch a single big reality format later this year but couldn’t reveal details just yet.