The Germans aren’t exactly known for their good humor, and the Netflix original series Dear Child reinforces that idea across six grim episodes about the bond between a mother and her child even after years of trauma, abuse, captivity, and sexual violence.
Based on Romy Hausman’s novel of the same title, and directed by Julian Pörksen and Isabel Kleefeld, the show isn’t based on a true story but is definitely inspired by harrowing real-life accounts, and is treated with an appropriate level of seriousness. It isn’t a fun, laidback watch, but it is a captivating one.
READ: TV Shows like Dear Child
The plot revolves around a woman ostensibly named Lena who has been held in captivity for 13 years, forced to raise two children, Hannah and Jonathan, under the sadistic, watchful eyes of their “Papa”. When Lena is able to escape, she becomes the victim of a hit-and-run and ends up in hospital with Hannah, where a 13-year-old missing-person case is reopened.
From our review:
It’s an age-old form of tension-building, questions without immediate answers, and the show holds onto its most crucial mysteries until the end. This makes it easy to remain curious and engaged and forgive any dalliances into soapier material, be that spats of overacting or more out-there swerves. It’s just a well-constructed show, overall, and it builds to almost a completely different experience by the end, as revelations continue to pile up and expectations continue to be upended.
Fans of the German thriller may well be wondering about the show’s potential future, so here’s everything we know.
Will there be a Dear Child Season 2 on Netflix?
Renewed or canceled status: TBC
At the time of writing, Netflix has not renewed Dear Child for a second season.
Dear Child has been billed as a limited series, which means it’s intended to tell a complete story in a single season. At present, there are no plans for that story to be continued in any way, and based on the Season 1 ending, it’s hard to imagine how it even could be continued, since everything was resolved.
The book on which the series is based is a standalone thriller with no sequels, so there isn’t precedent in the source material to continue after this point either.
Of course, stranger things have happened, but in this case the viewership metrics would have to be absolutely astronomical, which is almost certainly not going to be the case. Dear Child will be popular, no doubt, as it’s a carefully-calibrated, high-quality binge-watch with a compelling story, but most viewers will be perfectly content with a single season that tells a complete, satisfying story.
In light of all this our official prediction is that Dear Child will not be renewed for a second season, and this is very unlikely to change, however if it does, you’ll hear about it here first.
