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It only took five weeks to change everything.
Following Hitler’s appointment as Chancellor on Jan. 30, 1933, the fifth and final season of hit German neo-noir series “Babylon Berlin” blends history and fiction one last
time as its characters witness the rise of the Nazi Party and its unhinged violence, until Hitler’s full ascension to power after the infamous elections of March 5.
A dark conclusion for the 13-year-long creative journey that has been this show, but one that had been envisioned from the start by writer-directors Henk Handlogten, Achim von Borries and Tom Tykwer. Returning for the series’ final season along with leads Volker Bruch and Liv Lisa Fries (“Freud’s Last Season”) to work together on one final investigation, Tykwer and von Borries shared their thoughts and emotions ahead of the German release.
“It’s incredible to realize it took so little time to change the system completely,” underlines von Borries. “When we started developing the series, we thought our story would end on Jan. 30. But as we took a closer look at this period of time, it became clear that the few weeks following were as important to this major shift.”
Yet ahead of this impending doom, the trio refused to succumb to gloom. “We always wanted to tell the story from the perspective of our protagonists, and not as a doomed thing that we know happens,” adds von Borries. “We strongly believe that there were alternatives also. In every moment of time, there are alternatives.”
In terms of story-telling, this approach connects somehow to the tragedy of the Titanic, adds Tykwer. “But because we stay so intensely with characters that are fighting for something else to happen, it somehow transforms the entire situation. Which is amazing about, of course, fictionalized historical events. You can enter the zone again from while it was happening with a different whole knowledge, and make visible what it means for people nowadays living in this kind of circumstances.”
In fact, Europe’s political landscape has changed completely over the course of the serie’s development. And that shift also informed the writers. “During the making of the show,” continues Tykwer, “it became more and more apparent that these topics were also relevant for the people watching it, because it resonated with their political realities and our feelings of growing insecurity.”
For all its fictionalization of history, “Babylon Berlin’s” last season does resonate eerily with our times, in a way the creators of the show didn’t even expect. Tykwer adds: “As viewers, people started asking themselves: ‘Where am I? Where were these people? How did they experience it?’ And that also infused our writing over the years. We hope that this touches basic universal subjects, yet we had no idea how the political world would change. And this was constantly on our minds.”
The duo emphasized how much this five-seasons journey was truly a trio effort, with the power of three different voices in the writing room, equally important and very different. Voices that, after separate shootings, would meet again in the editing room, where the German wurst was made. “This whole show became such a massive collaborative effort. Not something that was designed as strategically perfect, but something built out of our collective instincts and influence on one another. I’m telling you,” jokes Tykwer, “They always say writing is re-writing. But editing is definitely re-editing as well, and we kept moving part of episodes again and again!”
Yet for all this organic, somewhat unplanned process, there was always a moment where the show would come full circle. “There was no chance of postponing our ending,” recalls von Borries, “and we had this big frame always on the back of our minds, from the end of the First World War to the rise to power of the Nazi Party. What did happen during this journey is that we learned to understand our characters better.”
“It’s not just about where the series is going,” adds Tykwer, “It’s about characters that grow throughout 48 hours of narrative, and take us with them along the way.”
In its first four seasons, “Babylon Berlin” sold to more than 140 territories and was watched more than 94 million times on Germany’s ARD online platform alone. Gathering multiple awards across the globe, the show wraps this September. “Honestly, it’s a super emotional moment,” shares von Borries. “For us, its the end of a 13-year process and collaboration. Last week, we had a German screening with the crew, and I have to say I was crying during this whole thing because it was so intense. Hundreds of people have worked on this over the course of 10 years, it’s just incredible. I think it’s the biggest thing I’ve made in my life.”
“Babylon Berlin” wraps with its fifth and final season on Sept. 10, with all episodes being release on ARD’s Mediathek online platform simultaneously. MhZ Choice, which snatched U.S. exclusive rights for the show in early 2024, will stream the last season in 2027.
