Barbarians

Barbara Eder's Barbarians (Barbaren) launched on Netflix in October 2020 and became the first major German-language original to enter the platform's global top-ten lists. The series was based on the historical Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, the catastrophic Roman defeat of 9 AD in which three legions under Publius Quinctilius Varus were annihilated by a Germanic alliance led by the Roman-raised Cheruscan prince Arminius (Hermann), an event that effectively halted Roman expansion east of the Rhine.

Germania, year 9 of the Common Era. Three central figures (the Roman-raised Cheruscan prince Arminius (Laurence Rupp), the warrior woman Thusnelda (Jeanne Goursaud), and the village outcast Folkwin (David Schütter)) find themselves drawn into the assembly of the Germanic alliance and the engineering of an ambush that will become one of the most consequential battles in European history. The series is performed in Latin (for the Romans) and modernised reconstruction-Germanic dialect (for the Cheruscans), an unusual linguistic commitment that became part of its critical reception.

The series's commitment to historical-authentic costume, weaponry and battle-choreography produced a register that prestige genre television rarely affords. The first season was followed by a second in 2022 covering the post-Teutoburg years; a third was announced for 2024.