Munich/Berlin, 2 December 2025. This series has shaped European high-end drama for nearly a decade: Germany’s landmark Babylon Berlin wrapped shooting for the fifth and final season in Berlin and goes straight into post-production. The 48-hour crime drama by the director/writer trio Tom Tykwer, Henk Handloegten, and Achim von Borries drew an unprecedented atmospheric picture of the German Weimar Republic, spanning from Berlin’s roaring 1920s to the dawn of the Third Reich, the darkest chapter in the country’s history. The show’s distinctive blend of character-driven storytelling, extraordinary production value, and 1920’s style and music has made it one of Europe’s most recognisable television brands, sold in over 140 territories worldwide.

Tom Tykwer, Henk Handloegten, and Achim von Borries share their thoughts on the final season: “With Babylon Berlin, we wanted to try to capture the history of the Weimar Republic and bring the specific zeitgeist in Berlin of that era back to life. Consequently, we now end with the final season during the last days of this crumbling republic, in February 1933, perhaps the most dramatic month in German history. All our characters are now finally called upon to show their true colors in a system that is being turned upside down before their eyes. They fight, dance, implore, betray, sing, scream, hate, and love as if there was no tomorrow. And the series finds its most dazzling moments in its darkest hour.”

Among the last scenes shot in November was the iconic 1933 press ball, the last big social event in Berlin before the Nazis took power, which included hundreds of extras in full period dress. While Adolf Hitler’s appointment as Chancellor forms the backdrop, the narrative of the last season remains focused on the Berlin police detective duo Gereon Rath (Volker Bruch) and Charlotte Ritter (Liv Lisa Fries). While Gereon disappears without explanation, Charlotte investigates a series of murders targeting former front-line soldiers, a case that gradually links back to Gereon’s past and to the country’s new political leadership.

Babylon Berlin’s five seasons are based on Volker Kutscher’s bestselling novels. Next to the two leads Volker Bruch (Generation War) and Liv Lisa Fries (From Hilde, With Love), they star Peter Kurth (In the Aisles), Matthias Brandt (Counterparts), Hannah Herzsprung (Four Minutes, The Reader), Karl Markovics (The Counterfeiters), Lars Eidinger (The Light, Dying), Fritzi Haberlandt (From Hilde, With Love), and Christian Friedel (The White Ribbon), including cameo appearances such as the UK music multi talent Bryan Ferry.

Babylon Berlin has collected numerous awards, among them the European Achievement in Fiction Series Award at the European Film Awards, four German Television Awards, the Grand Prize at the Seoul International Drama Awards, the Austrian Television Award ROMY as "TV Event of the Year", the Ondas Award in Spain, the Magnolia Award of the Shanghai TV Festival, the most important TV festival in Asia, and many more. Praised by international media as “one of the best things ever in long-form television” (The Wall Street Journal), "fabulous and stunning" (The Guardian), "dark, flashy, and addictive" (NPR), and "the most bingeable new drama since The Crown" (Vogue), the series has turned into the epitome of high-end TV made in Germany with an immense international impact.

Babylon Berlin is a production of X-Filme Creative Pool in co-production with ARD Degeto, SWR, WDR, Radio Bremen and Beta Film in collaboration with RBB, funded by Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, as well as the German Motion Picture Fund. Babylon Berlin is co-produced by Christoph Pellander and Carolin Haasis (ARD Degeto), Manfred Hattendorf and Monika Denisch (SWR), as well as Alexander Bickel and Caren Toennissen-Brand (WDR). Executive producers for X-Filme are Stefan Arndt, Uwe Schott, and Michael Polle, co-producers for Beta Film are Jan Mojto, Dirk Schürhoff, and Moritz Herzogenberg.