The year 2024 had some highlights in store for series fans. For example, the successful series “House of the Dragon”, “Bridgerton” and “The Bear” went into new seasons. But the past twelve months also brought something completely new and surprising in the series sector.
“Shogun”
In a year that was full of series highlights, this production still stood out. The FX show “Shōgun,” primarily in Japanese, tells a compelling story of cultural understanding, power and intrigue that unfolds in 1600 Japan.
There were an incredible 18 Emmy Awards for the masterfully staged major series project, which is an absolute record in one year. The historical series by creators Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks (44) is also reminiscent in many ways of the gigantic success “Game of Thrones”. The Japanese leading actors Hiroyuki Sanada (64) and Anna Sawai (32) each received an Emmy Award. Originally designed as a miniseries, the program, which is available in Germany on Disney+, will also have a second and third season.
“Stand out”
Sometimes the impression arises that Amazon's streaming service Prime Video publishes the fewest of its own series productions of the major global providers. But when Prime Video releases a big show, it usually hits home – as was the case with “The Boys”.
This is also the case with the post-apocalyptic, retro-futuristic sci-fi series “Fallout,” which is based on the popular computer game series. In “Fallout,” the United States became uninhabitable due to a nuclear war. Some survivors, such as the naive Lucy (Ella Purnell, 28), live in gigantic, underground bunkers called vaults.
But through a surprising chain of events, Lucy has to leave her protective home. On the surface she meets such colorful characters as the mutated bounty hunter Ghoul (Tarantino mime Walton Goggins, 53) or Maximus (Aaron Moten, 35), a member of the so-called Brotherhood of Steel.
With the first moments of “Fallout,” which show the beginning of nuclear war and several simultaneous nuclear explosions over Los Angeles, director Jonathan Nolan (48) and his team create possibly the most impressive series scene of 2024.
“The doubters”
The head of the family, Symcha Zweifler (Mike Burstyn, 79), like his wife Lilka (Eleanor Reissa), experienced the Holocaust as a child. His grandson and chosen successor Samuel (Aaron Altaras, 29), on the other hand, is a hip music manager who parties the night away in Berlin. This is the spectrum of the award-winning ARD series “Die Zweifler”, which is causing a sensation in 2024.
Series creator David Hadda and his team tell the story of three different generations of the Jewish-German Zweifler family in a smart, entertaining and highly emotional way, who run a flourishing delicatessen in Frankfurt's Bahnhofsviertel and lead a life between tradition and modernity, traumatic history and the present.
Masterfully cast with, among others, “Triangle of Sadness” star Sunnyi Melles (66) and lead actor Altaras, both of whom were awarded the German Television Prize for their acting. According to the media magazine “DWDL”, there will also be a second season.
“Baby Reindeer”
The Netflix miniseries “Baby Reindeer” (original title: “Baby Reindeer”) was the surprise hit of the year. Hardly anyone would have expected before the start of the series that the extremely autobiographical story of series creator, author and leading actor Richard Gadd (35) would have such an impact.
But viewers all over the world love the often unpredictable show with its strong, true-to-life and complex characters, with the stalker character Martha and her incomparable actress Jessica Gunning (38) seeming to particularly fascinate the audience. The successful production was honored with a total of six Emmy Awards, including best miniseries and for the series stars Gadd and Gunning.
“House of the Dragon”
The fantasy series “House of the Dragon” is known to tell a prequel to “Game of Thrones”. The second season, which was released in 2024, was also able to maintain the high level of the premiere. After a number of jumps in time and changes in actors in season one, the series now goes straight into the bloody civil war of the House of Targaryen, from which none of the characters, as the HBO production already suggests, will emerge as the shining victors.
But aside from all the human abysses and power struggles, the dragons themselves remain the most fascinating thing about “House of the Dragon”. Season two, for example, offered an air battle of the beasts that had never been seen before in “Game of Thrones”. The series will also receive a third season. After season four, however, it will end, as has already been announced.
“The bear”
The US series “The Bear”, which has the additional title “King of the Kitchen” in Germany and is available on Disney+, is currently considered the best that the series landscape has to offer. While Chef Carmy (Jeremy Allen White, 33) and his staff around Sydney (Ayo Edebiri, 29), Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach, 47) and Co. in season two are still busy with the construction and initial commissioning of their upscale restaurant ” The Bear”, the third season, which was released in the summer, is all about everyday gastronomic operations with all its challenges and crazy, highly intense situations.
In the new season, showrunner Christopher Storer (43) and his team also create numerous rousing, memorable moments in which everything seems to grow over the characters' heads. But at the same time, the FX show once again celebrates heartwarming camaraderie and friendship amidst all the chaos.
In addition, a few episodes are also offered that do not primarily take place in the restaurant or are set at completely different times in the series timeline – such as a virtuoso episode that is entirely dedicated to the backstory of fan favorite Tina. Incidentally, the leading actress Liza Colón-Zayas (52) was awarded an Emmy for her performance in season three, as were the leading actress White and Ebon Moss-Bachrach. A fourth season will also come.
“Bridgerton”
Netflix subscribers still love the romantic historical series “Bridgerton,” which continues with season three in 2024. Once again, the series from the forge of “Grey's Anatomy” creator Shonda Rhimes (54) offered courtly intrigue, breathtaking costumes and balls as well as a gripping love story.
The couple of the new season, consisting of Nicola Coughlan (37) as Penelope Bridgerton, also known as Lady Whistledown, and Luke Newton (31) as Colin Bridgerton, also had to beat the previous fan favorites Phoebe Dynevor (played Daphne, 29) and Regé -Jean Page (the “hot Duke” Simon, 36) from season one should not be hidden. The hit series will also have a fourth season.
“Maxton Hall – The World Between Us”
The streaming service Prime Video celebrated a huge success with the novel adaptation “Maxton Hall – The World Between Us” in 2024. The stirring, romantic young adult story became Prime Video's most-watched non-US original in its first week of availability on Amazon's streaming service.
This is not at all surprising given the charming, attractive main actors (Damian Hardung and Harriet Herbig-Matten), the picturesque setting of Marienburg Castle near Hanover and lots of emotional complications. The series based on the novel “Save Me” by Mona Kasten will continue with a second season, which has already been filmed and is scheduled to appear in 2025.
“The Penguin”
In 2024, the HBO series “The Penguin”, based on Sky in Germany, offered upscale, dark series entertainment and was entirely dedicated to the villain Oz Cobb (Colin Farrell, 48), already known from the DC superhero film “The Batman”. It tells the story of how the penguin fights his way up from a rather harmless mafia henchman to a powerful gang boss in the Batman city of Gotham City.
At the start of filming, lead actor Farrell spent three hours a day in the make-up to transform himself into the scarred, overweight, limping Oz using extensive make-up prosthetics on his neck and face. On his side, “Black Mirror” star Cristin Milioti (39) shone as mafia daughter Sofia Falcone, but the biggest star of “The Penguin” is probably the juggernaut Gotham City, which appears so ruthless here.
“John Sugar”
The detective show “John Sugar”, also with the popular Colin Farrell in the press, is a truly unusual series, but the big twist is only revealed towards the end of the eight episodes – and of course nothing will be revealed here will be.
Superstar Farrell delivers his usual cool, stylish performance as private detective John Sugar, who wants to solve the disappearance of a young woman in the Hollywood milieu of Los Angeles – and also indulges in his love for old cinematic masterpieces and his fantastically beautiful, historic Porsche. A recommendable, if not entirely successful, production. A second season has already been ordered by the streaming service Apple TV+.
