What is Dear Child about? New Netflix series explained

❘ Published: 2023-09-08T11:07:32

Netflix

Dear Child – a German mystery-thriller series – has just arrived on Netfli, so here’s what it’s about, who’s in the cast, and if it’s worth watching.

TV lovers across the globe seem to have an insatiable appetite for thrillers of late, and Netflix has been filling our plates with a diverse range of shows that fall into this category, with The Night Agent, The Diplomat, and You Season 4 arriving in 2023 alone.

What’s more, we’re seeing an increasing number of international titles ranking highly on the streaming platform, from Unseen and Sky High to The Tailor and Who Is Erin Carter?

The latest to join the ranks is Dear Child, originally titled Liebes Kind, which is based on Romy Hausman’s international bestselling novel of the same name. So, here’s everything you need to know about Season 1 of the show before diving in.

What is Dear Child about?

Dear Child is a six-episode Netflix thriller mini-series centering on an enigmatic woman and a precocious young girl as they’re discovered after a hit-and-run incident. This kick starts a chain of events that lead to the reopening of a 13-year-old missing persons case, with plenty of twists and turns as detectives peel back the layers to try and get to the bottom of what happened.

Check out the trailer below:

As per the official synopsis: “Lena lives in complete isolation in a highly secured home with the two children Hannah and Jonathan. They eat their meals, go to the toilet and to bed at precisely prescribed times. As soon as he enters the room, they line up to show their hands. They do everything he says. Until the young woman manages to escape. After a near fatal car accident, she is hospitalized, accompanied by Hannah.

“Dear Child starts where traditional thrillers end: with redemption. But the true extent of this nightmare is revealed with the arrival of Lena’s parents at the hospital the same night. They have been desperately searching for their missing daughter for almost 13 years…”

Netflix’s Tudum goes on to say that the series “unspools its suspenseful story across six episodes,” describing it as being “as tense as Gone Girl, while the claustrophobic, dungeon-like scenario that the little girl describes back home recalls Room.”

As co-producer Friederich Oetker told the streamer: “I found the motif of the inner and outer prison particularly interesting: even if you manage to escape, you take your inner prison with you. You have to free yourself from it.”

Co-producer Tom Spiess added: “All the characters narrate with their inner voice, so to speak – from their inner prison, while the perspective changes. And we found the theme relevant: it is about family.”

Dear Child cast: Who’s in it?

The cast for Dear Child on Netflix includes:

Kim Riedle as Lena
Naila Schuberth as Hannah
Sammy Schrein as Jonathan
Haley Louise Jones as Aida Kurt
Hans Löw as Gerd Bühling
Justus von Dohnányi as Matthias Beck
Julika Jenkins as Karin Beck

Kim Riedle, Naila Schuberth and Sammy Schrein in Dear Child on Netflix

Behind the camera, Isabel Kleefeld took on directing and head writing duties. Speaking about adapting the novel, she said: “I read the book in one night and saw the whole story very vividly in my mind. The material fascinated me immediately.

“Dear Child is told from the point of view of each of the participants, and the perspective changes again and again. The result is an exciting game with reality, a puzzle that the audience can always add to and reassemble. It is the story of a crime that has many victims, directly or indirectly.”

Is Dear Child worth watching?

While it’s too early for a Rotten Tomatoes score, Dear Child has received plenty of intrigue from Netflix subscribers, as well as positive reviews.

Decider recommends “streaming it,” writing: “Dear Child presents its audience with a confounding puzzle and fragmented perspectives, but in a way that draws viewers in instead of ticking them off, which happens less often than you might think.”

Elsewhere, Ready Steady Cut gave the show 3.5 stars. “Fans of psychological thrillers will be well-served here,” says the website. “The general premise might be familiar, but it goes in some surprising directions, and some very occasional deviations into telenovela-style plotting notwithstanding, it manages to engage for its entire runtime.”

Heaven of Horror described Dear Child as a “brutal crime mystery,” adding: “It’s one of the best German Netflix productions, and with just six episodes, it’s impossible not to binge-watch.”

Dear Child is available to stream on Netflix now, and you can check out some of our other Netflix coverage below: