MHz Choice released today an übertrailer for Babylon Berlin, in advance of the streamer’s premiere of the never-before-seen-in-North-America Season 4. Check it out!
I don’t know about you, but I can hardly stand the wait. It’s been more than four years since the third season of Babylon Berlin was released in the States, roughly the same amount of time that North American fans of the hit show have been wondering if we’d ever see the fourth.
Then came the announcement in February 2024 that MHz Choice had picked up Babylon Berlin, giving folks who hadn’t had the pleasure of (binge) watching this superb German crime thriller when it was on Netflix another chance to see why fans rave about it (and not just about that electrifying dance hall scene with its earworm song), and thrilling us fans with the news that Season 4 is headed our way.
Babylon Berlin launched in 2018 to great acclaim, and has since garnered numerous accolades and awards, including the European Film Academy’s inaugural European Achievement in Fiction Series Award, the Rose d’Or Series Award for Best Drama, a Grimme-Preis, the Bambi Award for Best Series, four German TV Awards, plus dozens more wins and nominations.
Based on Volker Kutscher’s best-selling “Gereon Rath Mysteries” novels, the landmark series follows police detective Gereon Rath (Volker Bruch, Generation War) and his partner, Charlotte Ritter (Liv Lisa Fries, Munich), as they investigate complicated cases in late 1920s-early 1930s Berlin, a hotbed of crime and politics, sex and drugs, emancipation and extremism — all set against the backdrop of the political developments leading from the Weimar Republic to the spread of National Socialism and the discontent that progresses to the Nazis taking power.
Over the course of the first three seasons, Rath and Ritter delve into a criminal case surrounding a porno ring by the Berlin Mafia, a conspiracy between Soviet rebels and the Black Reichswehr (a secret paramilitary group) to hijack a Soviet train rumored to be filled with Bolshevik gold, the on-set death of a famous actress, and more. As the Roaring Twenties come to a close and a new decade begins, organized crime is rife in Berlin, as is political extremism. Although the old militaristic elites have not yet abdicated, dark forces are gathering in an attempt to bring down democracy.
Season 4, based on Kutscher’s third “Gereon Rath” novel Goldstein, takes us to 1930 Berlin, traversing grand exhibition fights in the boxing clubs of the Berlin underworld, and all-out dancing marathons in the Moka Efti and the catacombs of the Red Castle. Rath’s investigations lead him into the realm of boxing — and, politically speaking, uncomfortably close to Hitler’s SA. The Nazis’ march to power is in full swing, but there are still some on the side of the rule of law.
While the global stock market crash of 1929 made paupers of many, a few actually made money, such as industrialist Alfred Nyssen (Lars Eidinger, All the Light We Cannot See), who invests his profits and has ambitions that aim for nothing less than the whole world and beyond.
Meanwhile, Abraham Goldstein (Mark Ivanir, Litvinenko), a wealthy American Jewish gangster who was raised in Berlin, returns home to his old neighborhood to find a stolen heirloom that once belonged to his father. The search leads him from his Jewish relatives in the Scheunenviertel to the premises of the Nyssen family. Rather incidentally, Goldstein sparks a gang war during the course of which the fabric of the underworld changes from the ground up. And Commissioner Rath has no idea that the pact with the devil will rekindle the fight against his inner demons. The journey into the night has only just begun…
Babylon Berlin: Season 4 premieres in the US and Canada with two episodes on Tuesday, June 25, exclusively on MHz Choice and its digital channels, including MHz Choice on Prime Channels. New episodes will drop in pairs through July 30.
Start catching up on the earlier seasons of Babylon Berlin now, if you haven’t already. Season 1 is streaming in its entirety, Season 2 premiered May 7, and Season 3 will premiere May 28. All seasons, including the upcoming Season 4, are and will be available in the original German language with English subtitles as well as an English-dubbed version.
Babylon Berlin is directed and written by Tom Tykwer, Achim von Borries, and Henk Handloegten, and written by Khyana el Bitar and Bettine von Borries. The series is produced by X Filme Creative Pool, in co-production with ARD Degeto, Sky, and Beta Film. Executive editors are Christoph Pellander and Carolin Haasis (ARD Degeto) together with Frank Jastfelder and Lucia Vogdt (Sky Deutschland). Producers for X Filme are Stefan Arndt, Uwe Schott, and Michael Polle, and the co-producers for Beta film are Jan Mojto, Dirk Schürhoff, and Moritz Herzogenberg. Season 4 was sponsored by the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, and the German Motion Picture Fund.
__________________
As an affiliate of Amazon and other cos, affiliate links on this blog allow us to earn income from qualifying actions (at no extra cost to you).
“Gereon Rath Mysteries” novels by Volker Kutscher
