On October 23, Netflix released the first season of the German historical war drama series Barbarians. Created by Andrea Heckmann, Arne Nolting and Jan Martin Scharf, Barbarians takes place in 9 AD, where the Roman Empire has taken control of Magna Germania and have oppressed the Germanic tribes who live under their occupation. The series shows how several of the Germanic tribes formed a unified resistance to take down the Roman Empire and free their land that was taken over. The tribes face numerous setback due to the conflicts between the various chieftains who want to go to war with Rome and the ones who want to make peace with them. The series is led by Laurence Rupp as Arminius, a soldier from the Roman Imperial Army who ends up joining the Germanic tribes and leading them to victory against Rome with his childhood friends (Jeanne Goursaud and David Schütter).
The first season of Barbarians has received critical acclaim from both critics and audiences who commended the show for its performances, set pieces, story and spectacle. The series was also praised for not stretching out its story by having too many episodes and instead only containing six. While there was criticism reserved for a handful of historical inaccuracies, it did not hinder that many people’s enjoyment of the show. Many people have favorably compared Barbarians to other historical drama series like Vikings and The Last Kingdom. One particular performance that has been praised is Schütter as the Germanic tribe leader Folkwin Wolfspeer, who was an original character created for the show that was commended for his storyline and relationship with Rupp’s character Arminius. With Barbarians’ success, it is unsurprising that the show was renewed for a second season on November 10.
The first season of Barbarians can be found on Netflix and should be an easy binge watch with there only being six episodes to see and each of them being 41-51 minutes in length.
