Blackout: Tomorrow Is Too Late

A chain reaction in the European power grid plunges the continent into darkness. Hacker Pierre Manzano realizes that a code he wrote is to blame. In Germany Frauke Michelsen heads the country’s crisis response team. Disaster looms.

Blackout: Tomorrow Is Too Late (2021) is a German-language disaster thriller series created by Marc Elsberg for ORF 1 and Joyn. Hacker Pierre Manzano (Moritz Bleibtreu) discovers that a code he wrote is the hidden cause of a chain reaction that plunges the European power grid into darkness, and he must race to undo the damage while carrying the weight of his own mistake. Meanwhile, Frauke Michelsen (Marie Leuenberger) leads Germany's crisis response team, and Carmen Laschitz (Milena Dreißig) and Jürgen Hardtland (Heiner Lauterbach) fight through the collapse of hospitals, transport, and communications. The story moves between hackers, officials, and ordinary people as cities go dark and supplies dwindle. Its engine is the clock: every hour without power brings the continent closer to chaos, and each episode layers new failures onto the last. Set in a contemporary Europe, it is a tense, dread-filled six-episode limited series with a serialized structure and a grounded, procedural tone. Fans of Containment, Utopia, and Revolution will find resonance in its portrait of institutional fragility and a society unraveling without electricity.

Critics find it a tense, well-paced European disaster thriller whose blackout premise carries its single season, though reception is mixed.

• Containmentshared apocalyptic infrastructure collapse, ensemble crisis response, dread-filled tension
• Utopia (2013)shared global catastrophe thriller, conspiratorial tech blame, serialized dread
• Revolutionshared societal breakdown drama after a technological failure, paranoid tone

Created by

Marc Elsberg

Release Date

2021-10-14

Episode runtime

45 min

Rating

6.3 / 10 (56)

What is Blackout: Tomorrow Is Too Late about?

A hacker discovers that a code he wrote caused a chain reaction that plunges Europe into darkness.

What is Blackout: Tomorrow Is Too Late like to watch?

Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Blackout: Tomorrow Is Too Late as brisk, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as easy to follow.

Is Blackout: Tomorrow Is Too Late violent?

Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in Blackout: Tomorrow Is Too Late as mild.

What did critics think of Blackout: Tomorrow Is Too Late?

Critics find it a tense, well-paced European disaster thriller whose blackout premise carries its single season, though reception is mixed.

Which shows are like Blackout: Tomorrow Is Too Late?

Shows with a similar feel include Containment, Utopia (2013), and Revolution.

How long is Blackout: Tomorrow Is Too Late?

Blackout: Tomorrow Is Too Late: 1 season, 6 episodes.

Is Blackout: Tomorrow Is Too Late still running?

No, Blackout: Tomorrow Is Too Late has ended.