''Biohackers'' is a German techno-thriller television series created by

Christian Ditter Christian Ditter (born 1977) is a German director, producer and screenwriter who has worked on films, television and commercials. He is best known for his films ', (2009) ''Love, Rosie'' (2014), and ''How to Be Single'' (2016) and the Netflix se ...

that premiered on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

on 20 August 2020. A week after its release, the series was renewed for a second season, which was released on 9 July 2021.

Synopsis

Mia Akerlund is a medical student at the

University of Freiburg The University of Freiburg (colloquially german: Uni Freiburg), officially the Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg (german: Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg), is a public university, public research university located in Freiburg im Breisg ...

, where she meets Jasper, a talented biology student, and Niklas, his somewhat strange roommate. She is very interested in biohacking technology and becomes involved in the world of illegal genetic experimentation. Mia is also trying to investigate the cause of her brother's death. When she learns of breakthrough biohacking research results which have landed in the wrong hands, Mia has to decide whether to protect her friends or avenge her brother's death.

Cast and characters

Main

* Luna Wedler as Emma "Mia Akerlund" Engels * Jessica Schwarz as Professor Tanja Lorenz * Thomas Prenn as Niklas * Adrian Julius Tillmann as Jasper * Jing Xiang as Chen-Lu * Caro Cult as Lotta * Sebastian Jakob Doppelbauer as Ole

Recurring

* Edith Saldanha as Monique * Zeynep Bozbay as Petra Eller *

Benno Fürmann Benjamin "Benno" Fürmann (; born 17 January 1972) is a German film and television actor. He is known for his lead role in the 2008 film ''The North Face'', where he plays Toni Kurz based on the 1936 Eiger climbing disaster in Switzerland. Li ...

as Andreas Winter *

Thomas Kretschmann Thomas Kretschmann (; born 8 September 1962) is a German actor who has appeared in many European and American films. His notable roles include Lieutenant Hans von Witzland in '' Stalingrad'' (1993), Hauptmann Wilm Hosenfeld in '' The Pianist'' ( ...

as Baron von Fürstenberg (season 2)

Episodes

Season 1 (2020)

Season 2 (2021)

Production

In addition to the original location at the

, the majority of the first season was filmed in studios in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

. Principal photography began in May 2019 and wrapped up in September 2019. The production was partially funded with at least €400,000 from the German Motion Picture Fund and the Bavarian media promotion company

FilmFernsehFonds Bayern FilmFernsehFonds Bayern (FFF Bayern) is a company whose goal is to promote media in Bavaria, Germany. The fund has its headquarters in Munich. Mission and aim Since its founding in 1996, FFF Bayern has had the task of carrying out quantitati ...

, which had also partly funded the Netflix series '' Dark''.

Release

The first season's six episodes were originally scheduled to be released on 30 April 2020. However, Netflix decided to postpone the launch due to the public's focus on the spread of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, as some scenes from the show could be misconstrued as references to the pandemic. 20 August 2020 was selected as the new release date.

Reception

In a balanced review of the series, Elsa Sotiriadis of

Singularity Hub Singularity Education Group (using the public names Singularity Group, Singularity University or SingularityU) is an American company that offers executive educational programs, a business incubator, and business consultancy services. Although ...

writes, "...the unconventional pieces sometimes move smoothly together and sometimes clash, but the plot is glued together with lots of visually appealing synthetic biology experiments and bioluminescent matter of diverse natures." Additionally, she says, "...don't expect the show to offer deep scientific insights or riveting character arcs, because biohacking is only the backdrop of a revenge plot that feels somewhat rushed." The journal ''

Science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

'' published a positive review of the show, noting that it accurately presents laboratory scenes of complex molecular biology, though these are necessarily rushed. The review also considered the dialogue about gene therapies and antidotes to be consistent with how RNA interference therapies work. The show also addresses many concerns about genomic data and genetic engineering, and the motivating drive behind do-it-yourself biology.

References

External links

* * * {{Netflix original current series 2020 German television series debuts 2020s German drama television series 2020s science fiction television series German science fiction television series German-language Netflix original programming Techno-thrillers Television shows set in Germany Thriller television series