POPSUGAR UK

An Exhaustive Guide to the Complex Web of Characters on Netflix's Dark — And Where They All End Up

30/06/2020 - 08:10 AM

Netflix's Dark, an intriguing sci-fi series that's been labelled with an unfair comparison to Stranger Things [1], weaves a complex, time-travelling mystery throughout its 10-episode first season [2]. The show opens in 2019 and introduces a large group of characters, only to begin a series of flashbacks to two other time periods: 1953 and 1986. That means that while you're trying to solve the mystery of where when Mikkel Nielsen disappeared to, the pool of characters is only widening and getting more confusing.

In season two, things only get more complicated as the show adds two more time periods — 1921 and 2053 — and more iterations of some of the main characters. Then, in season three, nearly everything we know (ish) to be true is turned on its head when we learn that not only are there different time periods and loops to keep track of, but there are two realities — one in which Adam is the facilitator of the time loops, and a second world, a parallel reality controlled by a woman named Eva.

Confused? Same. If you already had enough trouble keeping track of the 1921, 1953, 1986, 2019, and 2053 versions of each major player, keeping track of who is where in which world is a whole new mindf*ck. Whether you've just started season three or have already blown through it, we went ahead and made a handy guide to who (and when) everyone is in each season — and for season three that means where they are in Adam's world and where they are in Eva's world.

But be warned, this gallery is absolutely FULL of major spoilers that reveal everything that happens to most of our characters through the end of season three. So if you aren't finished and don't want to know, bookmark this page for later to help you clarify some of the finer points you may have missed.

Seriously, this post does not hold back on spoilers for all three seasons. You've been warned!

— Additional reporting by Sophia Panych and Alessia Santoro

Additional reporting by Sophia Panych

Ulrich Nielsen

Season 1: The 1986 Ulrich (Ludger Bökelmann) is a rebellious troublemaker who grows up to marry his high school sweetheart, Katharina, and become both a father of three and a detective in 2019 (with the older Ulrich played by Oliver Masucci). By the end of the season, the 2019 Ulrich gets trapped in 1953 while searching for his son Mikkel — while there, he attempts to kill young Helge Doppler so that he can't be involved in Mads or Mikkel's future disappearances. He's arrested while running away bloodied from the scene with Helge by Egon Tiedemann, who is looking for information on the recently-discovered bodies of Erik Obendorf and Yasin Friese.

Season 2: After getting trapped in 1953 and arrested on suspicion of murder, Ulrich refuses to identify himself or confess and is placed in a psychiatric facility. Therefore, in the second season we see the 2019 Ulrich aged 33 years (played by Winfried Glatzeder) living in the hospital in the year 1986. He's visited by a then-retired Egon, who shows him a photo of a boy who recently mysteriously appeared in Winden: Mikkel. Ulrich breaks out of the facility and attempts to run off with Mikkel, but is caught and arrested again.

Season 3:

Katharina Nielsen

Season 1: Although the 2019 Katharina (Jördis Triebel) is a devoted mother and principal, 1986 Katharina (Nele Trebs) is just as much of a little rebel as her boyfriend. Regardless of which time period you meet her in, however, she's got some dangerously sharp edges to her personality.

Season 2: Katharina spends much of the season trying to figure out what happened to her husband Ulrich and son Mikkel. And while it takes her a while to get on board with the whole "Mikkel has travelled back in time to 1986 and is actually Michael Kahnwald" thing, when she does, she takes matters into her own hands. We leave her in 2019, the day of the apocalypse, crawling through the Winden cave with Jonas's map and nifty-shaped flashlight.

Season 3:

Mikkel Nielsen/Michael Kahnwald

Season 1: See what I meant about this article being full of spoilers? The 1986 Mikkel (Daan Lennard Liebrenz) — Ulrich and Katharina's young son who goes missing — and 2019 Michael (Sebastian Rudolph) — Jonas's father and Hannah's husband who kills himself in the show's first scene — are one and the same. His fate is easily one of the more heartbreaking stories in the first season.

Season 2: If you thought Mikkel's story was tragic in the first season, it gets even more heart-wrenching in season 2. In 1986, Mikkel is unable to sleep or make friends and is potentially being given sleeping pills by his adopted mother. He also receives a visit from an aged Ulrich (who escaped the hospital) but fate intervenes once more and the father and son are separated and will both continue to remain stuck in 1986. In 2019, we learn that it wasn't Michael Kahnwald's own idea to take his own life, it what is probably one of the saddest scenes of the entire series.

Season 3:

Martha Nielsen

Season 1: Martha, Mikkel's sister, deals with the fallout of her brother and then her father's disappearance during this season, as well as a love triangle between her, Jonas, and Bartosz.

Season 2: Martha spends much of this season dealing with the same issues. Aside from realising that she's in love with Jonas (though she doesn't realise she's his aunt!) and discovering time travel from Bartosz, not much happens with her. Then, moments before the apocalypse, Martha is with Jonas when Adam appears and shoots Martha, killing her. Another minute later, Adam is gone, and a second Martha (with bangs!) shows up and tells Jonas that she's from another world and they need to go, pulling out a small gold time machine that takes them away.

Magnus Nielsen

Season 1: High school is hard enough already, but Magnus (Moritz Nielsen) is having a particularly tough time in 2019 dealing with the disappearance of his brother Mikkel followed by his father Ulrich, his feelings for Franziska (Gina Stiebitz) who is doing some sneaky things by the train tracks on a daily basis, and his two good friends fighting over his sister Martha (Lisa Vicari).

Season 2: How naïve of us to think that Magnus would stay in 2019. For most of the second season we see Magnus still dealing with the disappearance of his family and his feelings for Franziska, but now he's also dealing with an absentee mother, a mising Jonas, figuring out what Bartosz is up to, and trying to track down Mikkel. We also get a glimpse of an older Magnus who has seemingly travelled back to 1921 where he is working for Adam.

Jana Nielsen

Season 1: Poor Jana. No matter what time she's introduced — 1986 Jana (Anne Lebinsky) or 2019 Jana (Tatja Seibt) — she's never all there, so to speak. Ulrich's mother just could not bounce back after the tragic kidnapping of her youngest son, Mads.

Season 2: While much of season 2 focuses on her husband Egon, Jana doesn't appear in season 2.

Tronte Nielsen

Season 1: Ulrich's scumbag father, Tronte, is one of the few characters we see at three stages in his life: 1953 (Joshio Marlon), 1986 (Felix Kramer), and 2019 (Walter Kreye). He moves to the town in the '50s with his mother and later becomes a reporter and carries on an affair with Claudia as his wife suffers alone. A real stand-up guy.

Season 2: Blink and you would've missed Tronte this season. We see him briefly in 1953: First pulling down his pants in the wood after a young Claudia asks him to (they later will have an affair), and second, in bed, whilst his mother Agnes sits next to him reading the newspaper article about an older Claudia's death.

Charlotte Doppler

Season 1: We don't get to see much of 1986 Charlotte (Stephanie Amarell), other than her fascination with the town's falling dead bird problem. In 2019, older Charlotte (Karoline Eichhorn) is Ulrich's superior at the police station and still just as curious about the strange phenomena that seem to plague the town.

Season 2: In 2019, Charlotte has all but put her marital drama behind her and started her own investigation (unbeknownst to her new boss) with her husband into the disappearances in Winden.

The only other version of Charlotte we see in season 2 is as an infant, in a photo of her with her parents: Noah and a mysterious blonde woman (it's later revealed to be her own daughter Elisabeth, although Charlotte is still in the dark about that). We first see the photo in 2019, when Noah gives it to Charlotte in her grandfather's studio — revealing that he is her father and that she was taken from him as a baby. The next time we see it is in 2053, when an older Elisabeth digs up a box of her personal belongings (including her knit fox hat).

Season 3:

Peter Doppler

Season 1: Married to Charlotte and the father of Franziska and Elisabeth, Peter is also a therapist in Winden, and is counselling Jonas in the months following his father Michael's death. Peter and Charlotte's relationship is strained, and we learn that at least part of the reason is due to Benni, a sex worker whom Peter had a past relationship with. Peter drives to see Benni on the night Mikkel disappears, but turns around and drives to his father's bunker, where he is when Ulrich's brother Mads's body falls from a portal.

Season 2: Once older Jonas reveals his identity to Hannah and Charlotte, Peter reveals that he was aware of time travel because of old Claudia, who told him and Tronte what to do to keep the time loops preserved after finding Mads's body. Peter ends the season in the bunker with Elisabeth as the apocalypse occurs.

Season 3:

Elisabeth Doppler

Season 1: Daughter of Peter and Charlotte Doppler, we see 2019 Elisabeth (Carlotta von Falkenhayn)just being a rebellious pre-teen — chasing boys, stealing her sister Franziska's lipstick, and wandering off alone, where she's the first one to meet Noah and return unscathed.

Season 2: A fairly unimportant character in the first season, Elisabeth is revealed to be a much more integral (and complex) character in season 2. Not only do we follow a 2019 Elisabeth, but now we see her in 2053 (played by Sandra Borgmann), dirty and scarred and in command of a post-apocalyptic Winden. To complicate matters further, it's revealed (not to Elisabeth herself) that she is both Charlotte's daughter and mother (meaning they're each other's grandmothers) and wife to a past Noah and whoa! things just got exponentially weirder.

Season 3:

Franziska Doppler

Season 1: While much of the intrigue in the series revolves around time travel and the causation of past, present, and future, Charlotte and Peter's eldest daughter Franziska (Gina Stiebitz)seems to be involved in a mystery that has nothing to do with the past and everything to do with present day (2019). When she's not practising rhythmic gymnastics or making out with and teasing Magnus, she's up to something that involves leaving and digging up a box under the train tracks.

Season 2: Franziska's secret is finally exposed after Magnus follows her on one of her visits to the train tracks. And while she's still very much wrapped up in the drama of 2019 and the affair between her father and Benni, in 1921 we get a glimpse of someone who we are 99.9% certain is an older Franziska. If it is her, it seems that she, Magnus, and Bartosz escaped the 2019 and somehow hooked up with Adam along the way.

Season 3:

Helge Doppler

Season 1: Helge can't catch a break no matter what year it is. The 1953 Helge (Tom Philipp), 1986 Helge (Peter Schneider), and 2019 Helge (Hermann Beyer) are all fighting to overcome something — a man attempting to murder him, disturbing moral quandaries, and deep regret for what he's done.

Season 2: We don't see as much of Helge in the second season, and when we do, it's mostly right after he's returned by Noah in 1953 and how he's coping with the traumatic experience. A 1986 Helge plays a small but integral role in helping Egon get to the bottom of the mysterious goings on in Winden over the past three decades.

Season 3:

H.G. Tannhaus

Season 1: The 1953 H.G. Tannhaus (Arnd Klawitter) and 1986 H.G. Tannhaus (Christian Steyer) — sweater-vest-loving scientist and clockmaker — equally (and inadvertently) play their part in keeping the wormhole below the town open by helping to invent a special time-travelling device.

Season 2: H.G. Tannhaus appears primarily in the form of his books and photographs that are in his granddaughter Charlotte Doppler's attic. One of those old black-and-white photographs shows a group of men that include Adam and Noah. When Charlotte's daughter Elisabeth recognises Noah in the picture, Charlotte and her husband Peter begin trying to figure out what exactly is going on in Winden — and exactly who Charlotte's real parents are (spoiler alert: its Noah and her own daughter, Elisabeth).

Season 3:

Silja

Season 1: We meet Silja [4] (Lea van Acken) in the final moments of season one, when she rolls up in a giant truck with other survivors in post-apocalyptic Winden. She welcomes Jonas to the future and knocks him out.

Season 2: In season two, we learn that Silja is Elisabeth's interpreter, as she knows sign language. When Jonas breaks Elisabeth's rules and tries to get into the ruins of the power plant, Silja helps him in exchange for letting her see what's inside. She's caught after Jonas travels through the dark matter by Elisabeth, and challenges her leader as to why the plant was off limits, now that she knows what exists there.

Season 3:

Claudia Tiedemann

Season 1: Claudia definitely has one of the most dramatic transformations of the cast. The 1953 Claudia (Gwendolyn Göbel) is the spoiled daughter of Egon and is seen tutoring young Helge and flirting with young Tronte. By 1986, Claudia (Julika Jenkins) has become the new manager of the nuclear plant and mom to Regina. The jaw-dropping, life-changing secrets she uncovers during her first year on the job result in her withdrawing from the world. In 2019, we meet the oldest version of Claudia (Lisa Kreuzer) that we'll see and find out that she's been living in isolation in a mysterious underground bunker that may or may not be in any of the show's three timelines.

Season 2: Like Jonas Kahnwald and Noah, Claudia slips easily and frequently between 1953, 1986, and 2019 in season 2. Turns out she hasn't been just hanging out in the bunker all this time, but actively trying to stop Adam and his war against time. And while at first it seems like Claudia is the good guy and Adam the bad one, things get more complicated when it's revealed that Claudia is the person whom 1953 Helge refers to as "The White Devil."

Season 3:

Egon Tiedemann

Season 1: In 1953, Egon (Sebastian Hülk) is trying to make a name for himself as a cop by solving the murders of two young boys, as well as the disappearance of little Helge. By 1986, older Egon (Christian Pätzold) is a burned-out detective who no one in the town trusts. Both iterations of the character get into some pretty serious scuffles with Ulrich.

Season 2: After speaking with Helge in 1987 after Mads Nielsen's disappearance, Egon in 1986 is reminded of the man (Ulrich Nielseon) he arrested in 1953 in connection with Helge's kidnapping. Egon goes to visit Ulrich in the psychiatric hospital and afterwards begins to realise that he may have made a mistake and starts to piece together the time-travelling puzzle. That is, until a 1986 Claudia puts a stop to this by accidentally killing him.

Season 3:

Regina Tiedemann

Season 1: It might come as a bit of a shock that 1986 Regina (Lydia Maria Makrides) — a kindhearted, curly-headed nerd — grows up to be the glamorous-but-stressed-out Regina of 2019 (Deborah Kaufmann). As the series goes on, you begin to see what causes Regina's transformation and why she carries such a chip on her well-dressed shoulders.

Season 2: Suffering from breast cancer, 2019 Regina spends most of the second season getting treatment at home. That is, until her mother Claudia time travels from 1986 to see her and try to rescue her from the impending apocalypse and brings her to the bunker. At season's end we leave Regina in the bunker with Peter and Elisabeth Doppler.

Season 3:

Aleksander Tiedemann

Season 1: The 1986 Aleksander (Béla Gabor Lenz) is a bit of a mystery, to be honest. He pops up at just the right moment to save Regina as a teen, and the pair later marry. By 2019, he's grown into a hardened businessman (played by Peter Benedict) who is in charge of the nuclear plant that Regina's mother, Claudia, used to run. Maybe season two will delve deeper into where Aleksander grew up and why he had those two fake passports.

Season 2: After being questioned Investigator Clausen as to why he took his wife's family name (Tiedemann), Aleksander tells the detective that his original surname was Köhler. Although, that is also not the truth, as Investigator Clausen reveals that his original last name is Köhler and that his brother, Aleksander Köhler, has been missing since 1986.

Season 3:

Bartosz Tiedemann

Season 1: Bartosz is the only child of Regina and Aleksander, Jonas's best friend, and Martha's boyfriend (which is complicated, because he kind of steals her from Jonas while Jonas is off getting treatment following his father's death). He's there when Mikkel disappears and later is met by his grandmother, Claudia, who he had thought was dead, and then Noah, who tells him about time travel and shares what Claudia and Jonas are up to in the future.

Season 2: In this season, Bartosz teaches Magnus, Franziska, and Martha about time travel by taking them to the '80s as proof. Upon returning to 2020 on the day of the apocalypse, the time machine is taken from Bartosz and ends up in the hands of Katharina, but older Jonas ultimately saves him, Magnus, and Franziska from the apocalypse by travelling with them at the last second.

Season 3:

Ines Kahnwald

Season 1: Ines is a little easier to keep track of thanks to the striking mole above her mouth. In 1986, Ines (Anne Ratte-Polle) is a nurse working at the hospital where Mikkel is brought in, and by 2019, she (Angela Winkler) is revealed to be the secret-keeping and letter-hoarding grandmother of Jonas.

Season 2: We only see 1986 Ines (she looks quite different with her hair down!) who spends most of the season trying to get Mikkel to forget about the past and calm his nerves, although, slipping sleeping pills in his hot chocolate seems excessive.

Season 3:

Hannah Kahnwald

Season 1: There's one big thing that 1986 Hannah (Ella Lee) and 2019 Hannah (Maja Schöne) have in common: they're savage. Hannah is one of Dark's most twisted, deceitful characters, with each episode unveiling a new layer of just how, well, dark she can be.

Season 2: Hannah becomes even more of a villain in the second season after she steals the time machine from older Jonas (who has come back to 2019 and reveals himself to her) to travel back to 1953 to get even with Ulrich. And based on a comment she made at the police station to a 1953 Egon Tiedemann, she plans on sitting tight in the '50s and saying goodbye to 2019.

Jonas Kahnwald

Season 1: Like the Mikkel/Michael connection, 2019 Jonas (Louis Hofmann) is actually a younger version of the show's raincoat-wearing stranger (Andreas Pietschmann). Future Jonas (who is somehow a brunette, even though teenage Jonas is very clearly blond) goes back to 2019 to try to explain what's going on to his younger self and why bringing little Mikkel back from the '80s would have deadly consequences (for instance, Jonas would never be born).

Season 2: Teenage Jonas and future Jonas loop through so many different time periods this season its hard to keep track. Future Jonas spends most of his time in 2020, trying to save Martha and his friends from the apocalypse, while teenage Jonas travels between 1921, 1986, and 2020 trying to stop the apocalypse all together. In one episode, there are even two teenage Jonases (Jonai?) in 2019 at the exact same moment in time. There's still a lot to learn about the latter half of Jonas' life and we hope that season 3 reveals just how such a sweet kid turned into surly Adam. Or, perhaps he never will even become Adam if he can finally close the time loop ... maybe with the help of bob-wearing Martha and her golden snitch-looking device.

Adam

Season 2: Initially, Adam (Dietrick Hollinderbäumer) is an enigmatic figure who we know little about other than the fact he is the leader of Sic Mundus, a cult-like organisation of which Noah is a part. As the season progresses, it is revealed that Adam's group, who refer to themselves as "the travelers," has waged a war on time and Adam is responsible for everything that has happened and continues to happen in the time loop. Then, in what is probably the most shocking twist of the series, we find out that Adam is actually a much older Jonas, disfigured from his constant traveling back and forth through time. He spends almost the entire season living at the Sic Mundus headquarters in 1921, but ends the episode in 2020 to ensure teenage Jonas is unable to close the time loop by killing Martha.

Season 3:

Noah

Season 1: Noah (Mark Waschke) is Dark's most frustrating character. What do we know about him by the end of season one? That he's a priest, but he's evil. That he enjoys kidnapping and murdering young men. That he doesn't age. And that's . . . about it. On the bright side, he's very easy to keep track of.

Season 2: The second season opens with a young Noah (Max Schimmelpfennig)in 1921, digging the Winden cave with an older man that looks a tiny bit like Bartosz, although with a tattoo of the Emerald Tablet [5] on his chest (the same older Noah has on his chest). Throughout the second season, an older Noah has gone back to 1921 to mentor the younger Noah, who is just being initiated into Adam's group of travellers. And while we thought we could write off the priest as inherently evil, as the season progresses and learn more about him — that his sister is Tronte's wife and Ulrich's mother Agnes, that he was married to Elisabeth at some point in time and the father of Charlotte Doppler — we're left just as frustrated as before.

Season 3:

Agnes Nielsen

Season 1: We meet a glamorous-looking Agnes (Antje Traue)in 1953 as she's arriving in Winden with her young son Tronte. The first person she meets is a lost and beat-up Ulrich who just time travelled from 2019 and is wandering the highway in Winden trying to figure out what just happened. Her next stop is to the house of Egon and Doris Tiedemann, where her and her son are renting a room. We don't know much about Agnes and her past, but what we do know is this: there is definitely some sexual tension between her and Doris from the minute Agnes enters the house.

Season 2: In 1954, Agnes is still living with the Tiedemanns except now her and Doris are having an affair. We get a few answers about who Agnes really is after she meets with the older Claudia, when it's revealed that not only was she was once part of Sic Mundus (Adam's group known also known as the travellers), but she's also Noah's brother (and it sounds like she had a falling out with both parties). In 1921, we get a glimpse of Agnes as a little girl, sweeping the floor of her mother's inn where a teenage Jonas is recovering from the wounds he inflicted in 2053. In the season finale we meet Agnes again at the Sic Mundus headquarters (her hair styled in the same crown braid she wore as a child) where she surprises everyone and kills her brother as he's trying to kill Adam.

Season 3:

Investigator Clausen

Season 2: When we first meet Investigator Clausen (Sylvester Groth) in Season 2, we are to believe he is unconnected to the town of Winden and its residents — an outside detective sent to in to solve the case of the six missing persons. But in typical Dark fashion, it's slowly revealed that Clausen is not only connected to Winden, but to The Travellers as well.

Clausen has his eye on Aleksander Tiedemann throughout season 2, wondering why the man took his wife's family name when they married. Tiedemann reveals in an early interview that his surname was actually Köhler, although, Clausen, still suspicious, tracks down records from the Marburg registry office and determines that Aleksander is lying and arrests him for possible identity fraud. It's during further questioning after Aleksander's arrest that we discover Clausen's real motive for taking on the case in Winden and who he really is: His surname used to be Köhler and his brother, Aleksander, has been missing since 1986. Clausen received an anonymous letter promising he'd find answers to the case of his missing brother in Winden.

A photo of him and his brother from the '80s adds another twist: It appears Investigator Clausen's missing brother may be the young Noah who we first meet digging the cave in 1921.

Eva

Season 3: We meet Eva when she approaches Jonas in her world, and tells him of how their two worlds are connected in that they both are stuck in time loops, destined to live the same lives over and over because of him . . . and herself, aka Martha. If Adam is the keeper of the time loops in his world, Eva is the keeper of the loops in this world, doing everything she does in order to ensure that her and Jonas's son is born. Throughout the season she's seen following through with actions that complete the cycle, sending her son out to do most of her bidding, in addition to Bartosz, Noah, Claudia, and Egon. In terms of Eva in the origin world, Martha doesn't exist there, thus she can never give life to her alter-ego.

The Child/Man/Elder With the Lip Scar

Season 3: In the opening scene of season three, we see this character in all of his forms (as evidenced by the lip scar they each share) setting fire to the Sic Mundus headquarters. In both realities, he does Eva's bidding for her by helping slot events into place to preserve the knot, like getting the approval for the nuclear power plant to be built in the '50s. He's seen at Sic Mundus HQ filling in the final pages of the leather book that flows between Noah, Claudia, and Adam, adding the ever popular phrase "The beginning is the end, and the end is the beginning" to it. We also learn that he helps to trigger the apocalypse from the power plant in both worlds. In terms of this dude in the origin world? Obviously, without a Jonas or Martha, their son can't exist.


Source URL
https://www.popsugar.co.uk/celebrity/Dark-TV-Show-Character-List-44349776