# Shadowplay (2020)

> In 1946 Berlin, an American detective hunting his missing brother teams up with a novice German policewoman to tackle a wave of brutal murders.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/79321

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 8
- Episode runtime: 52 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: crime, drama, history
- Created by: Måns Mårlind
- Network: ZDF
- Cast: Taylor Kitsch, Michael C. Hall, Nina Hoss, Sebastian Koch, Tuppence Middleton, Logan Marshall-Green, Mala Emde, Anne Ratte-Polle
- TMDB rating: 7.1/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8879894/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: graphic
- Tone: bleak, atmospheric, tense

## What critics say

Audience reception is mixed, with viewers rating the single season middling at 5.4/10 across eight episodes.

## Synopsis

Shadowplay (2020) is a German-produced English-language historical crime limited series created by Måns Mårlind and broadcast on ZDF. Set in 1946 Berlin, a shattered city of rubble and black markets, the story follows American cop Max McLaughlin (Taylor Kitsch) who is searching for his missing brother Moritz (Logan Marshall-Green) while he works alongside a novice German policewoman, Elsie Garten (Nina Hoss). Their partnership is strained by occupation-era suspicion and the moral debris of a country still reckoning with its recent past. Tom Franklin (Michael C. Hall) and Claire Franklin (Tuppence Middleton) add further entanglements, and the investigation pulls the pair through a run of brutal murders across the city. Across eight episodes of one continuing case, the series builds a grim, claustrophobic procedural, with each hour tightening the search for both the killer and the brother. The tone is bleak and atmospheric, with noir shadows and a haunted sense of postwar guilt. Fans of Babylon Berlin, The Killing and Dark will find resonance in its historical texture and moody criminal intrigue.

## Shows like Shadowplay

- [Oderbruch (2024)](https://ember.film/tv/146988)
- [Generation War (2013)](https://ember.film/tv/42433)
- [Berlin Station (2016)](https://ember.film/tv/58467)
- [Marnow Murders (2021)](https://ember.film/tv/99869)
- [Babylon Berlin (2017)](https://ember.film/tv/58972)
- [Sleeping Dog (2023)](https://ember.film/tv/145195)
- [Vienna Blood (2019)](https://ember.film/tv/79495)
- [Perfume (2018)](https://ember.film/tv/71644)
- [Breslau (2025)](https://ember.film/tv/169260)
- [In the Face of Crime (2010)](https://ember.film/tv/34152)

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