What happens when a 13-year-old missing persons case is reopened with stunning and dramatic turns? Netflix’s newly released German thriller series ‘Dear Child’ is all about that.
The series is an adaptation of the international bestselling novel Dear Child (original title Liebes Kind) by German author Romy Hausmann. Let’s find out if the series and the novel are based on a true story:
Plot
Based on the international bestselling novel of the same title, Dear Child (original German title Liebes Kind) unspools its suspenseful story across limited episodes.
Trapped in a windowless house, Lena (Kim Riedle), 12-year-old Hannah (Naila Schuberth), and 8-year-old Jonathan (Sammy Schrein) are isolated from the outside world.
Their days and nights are ruled by a strict schedule, with food meted out by the children’s father. Whenever he enters their prison room, all three of them must line up and hold out their hands to prove they have nothing to hide. He dictates, and they obey. That is, until the night Lena finally manages to escape, wearing only a nightgown.
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Cast
- Kim Riedle (Skylines, Back for Good) as Lena
- Hans Löw (I’m Your Man, Toni Erdmann, In My Room) as Gerd Bühling, a CID officer who was in charge of the Lena Beck missing persons case 13 years ago
- Naila Schuberth (Bird Box: Barcelona, Blackout) as Hannah, Lena’s 12-year-old daughter
- Sammy Schrein (German Crime Story: Gefesselt) as Jonathan, Lena’s 8-year-old son
- Justus von Dohnányi (Downfall, The Experiment, We Are Next of Kin) as Matthias, Lena’s father
- Julika Jenkins (Vitus, Dark, Tatort) as Karin, Lena’s mother
- Haley Louise Jones (Paradise, Bones and Names, Ivie wie Ivie) as Aida Kurt, a police officer
Is Dear Child based on a true story?
No, it’s entirely fictional. In another interview, Hausmann described how she writes without knowing what will happen next: “Even if no one believes me, I don’t plot… I just set up the initial premise and try to create the characters as defined as possible. Then I start to write, asking myself again and again how this character should behave next, what is realistic, and above all: How would I behave in this situation?”
Where was the series filmed?
The series is set in Germany, where most of the filming also took place.
Release date
Released on September 7, 2023, there are six episodes of the series.
