HBO Max Secures New Crime Thriller Series from Dark Creators

Dark has finished its three-season run on Netflix, so it’s not coming back, but HBO Max is giving us the next best thing: a new series from the same creators. Dark is the closest thing I’ve ever seen to a worthy replacement for Twin Peaks. It has all the mystery-box terror and deeply disturbing imagery of David Lynch’s classic series, but it also recaptures its small-town soap opera feel.

Creative partners (and real-life romantic partners) Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese first made their names with the techno-thriller movie Who Am I. They followed that up with Dark, which made them two of the most renowned TV writers on the planet, and they followed up Dark with 1899, another gonzo Netflix show that was just as great as Dark, but sadly not as popular.

Now, following the one-season cancelation of 1899, the duo is moving to a different streaming service to tell a very different story. Instead of making another sci-fi epic for Netflix, they’re making a crime thriller for HBO Max (and it could be exactly what Dark fans have been waiting for).

Why Dark Only Lasted Three Seasons On Netflix

Dark only had three seasons because the creators only needed three seasons to tell their story in full. The first season started off with the flawed but compelling townspeople going into a time-traveling cave, one by one, and finding themselves stranded in all different timelines across the town’s long, storied history (and its post-apocalyptic future).

Throughout its three seasons, the writers kept escalating the stakes (and the complexity) of that narrative. But at the end of season 3, it all came to a head and wrapped up the loose ends in a neat bow. The writers paid meticulous attention to detail in crafting this complicated, multifaceted story. When they decided it was time to end, it was because they’d told the story they wanted to tell.

HBO Max Is Getting A New Crime Thriller From Dark's Creators

Friese and Odar are reteaming with Lisa Vicari, who played Martha Nielsen in Dark, to adapt Der Struwwelpeter for the screen. Roughly translated as “Shock-Headed Peter,” Der Struwwelpeter is a German children’s book published in 1845. It was one of the earliest children’s books to combine text and images in its narrative, which is considered a precursor to comic books.

Written and illustrated by German psychiatrist Heinrich Hoffmann, the book is made up of 10 cautionary tales carrying their own moral lessons for readers. These stories show the horrific consequences of misbehavior in an absurdly exaggerated way, and they’ve since been interpreted as simplified depictions of child mental disorders.

The TV series doesn’t have an official title yet, but it’ll follow a federal agent investigating a string of murders inspired by the 10 stories. So, it’s not a straightforward adaptation, but rather a grisly police procedural incorporating elements of these classic children’s tales into a twisted murder spree.

Why A Show Based On Struwwelpeter Sounds Perfect For Dark Fans

While the premise and genre sound very different to Dark, this TV adaptation of Der Struwwelpeter could be perfect for Dark fans. Not only is it a reunion of the same writers and the actor who played fan-favorite Martha; it also seems to be following the same grim, unrelentingly bleak tone that made Dark so compelling.

Any good murder mystery needs to keep you engaged with shocking twists and turns, and Dark had a shocking twist in just about every single episode. If the Struwwelpeter show can be just as chilling and captivating as Dark, then we’re in for a real treat.

What hooked us in and drove the narrative of Dark was the mystery of the time-traveling cave. The Struwwelpeter series will have a very different mystery, involving murders as opposed to ripples in the spacetime continuum, but it’ll have the same effect: keeping us on the edge of our seats, waiting to have our questions answered. We already know these writers are adept at building that kind of story.