Netflix’s German historical drama Barbarians sets its first season in the Roman-occupied territory of Germania Magna in the latter part of 9 AD. The empire has held the region for twenty years. Heavy taxes and demands for tribute grind down the Germanic tribes. The show, created by Andreas Heckmann, Arne Nolting and Jan Martin Scharf, builds toward the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest on September 11, 9 AD, where Germanic warriors ambush three Roman legions.
Trailer, via Netflix.
Arminius and the Cherusci
Laurence Rupp plays Arminius, an eques in the Roman army and a member of the Cherusci tribe. His father Segimer handed him to Rome as a child, along with his younger brother Flavus, to keep the peace. He comes home to help his foster father, the general Varus, hold the region. Then he sees what Roman soldiers do to his former people. He takes the title of chieftain and starts a rebellion.
The show gives him two allies from childhood. Jeanne Goursaud plays Thusnelda, daughter of Segestes. David Schütter plays Folkwin Wolfspeer. Gaetano Aronica plays Varus. Bernhard Schütz plays Segestes, Eva Verena Müller plays Irmina, and Nikolai Kinski plays Pelagios, Varus’ interpreter.
Two Seasons, Twelve Episodes
The scale is the draw and the limit. A rebellion needs a uniting, and the source of the drama is that the tribes will not unite easily.
- Petty in-fighting between tribal chieftains
- Tribesmen who want peace with Rome for their own gain
- Arminius caught between his Roman rank and his Cherusci blood
- Thusnelda and Folkwin pulling him back toward his own people
What the Two Seasons Do Differently
| Season | First aired | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| Season 1 | October 23, 2020 | Arminius returns, turns on Rome, unites the tribes |
| Season 2 | October 21, 2022 | Released after the show was renewed on November 10, 2020 |
The show is a fictionalized account, not a history. It takes the outline of the occupation and the rebellion and fills the gaps with invented people and invented grudges. That is a fair choice for a drama, and it is where the show is strongest. The in-fighting between chieftains gives the first season a real problem to solve. Arminius cannot simply decide to rebel. He has to talk men into it who would rather trade with Rome than die fighting it.
Where Barbarians thins out is in the middle. Twelve episodes across two seasons is a short run, and the show spends a lot of it on the same argument. The Romans are cruel, the tribes are divided, Arminius is torn. It says this well, and then it says it again. Varus is a general and a foster father, and that should be the sharpest tension in the show. It is not always. The battle is the payoff and it lands.
The 7.3 out of 10 from TMDB, across 681 votes, is about right. Barbarians is a well-made historical war drama with a clear story and a cast that carries it. It is not a great one. It knows where it is going and gets there, and that is more than most shows of this size manage.
Get the Notebook.
The day's best stories and every fresh verdict, in plain English, in your inbox by seven. One email a day, no more.