City of Blood: New German Dystopian Vampire Series Hits Disney+ and Hulu

Disney+ and Hulu have released the official trailer and poster for City of Blood, an upcoming eight-part German dystopian thriller series filmed extensively across Prague and the Czech Republic.

Production Background and Czech Filming Locations

Produced by Berlin-based Amusement Park Film—the company behind the Oscar-winning feature All Quiet on the Western Front—City of Blood spent 110 filming days shooting in the Czech Republic between May 25 and September 12, 2024, according to The Prague Reporter. Czech production services were managed by Sirena Film. The production received financial support from the Czech Audiovisual Fund, the South Moravian Film Fund, Germany’s Motion Picture Fund, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, and the European Union’s Creative Europe – MEDIA program.

During production in 2024, the project was kept largely under wraps while crews transformed Prague city streets into a crumbling, alternate version of Berlin.

Plot and Source Material

The series is inspired by Berlinoir, a graphic novel series created by German illustrator Reinhard Kleist and author Tobias O. Meißner, as reported by Flickering Myth and The Prague Reporter. While the graphic novel imagines a Berlin ruled by vampires to explore political oppression, the television adaptation introduces a climate-ravaged metropolis where extreme heat and social collapse define daily life.

In this alternate reality, a privileged elite lives beneath an air-conditioned dome, while the rest of the population struggles against poverty, violence, and organized crime outside the barrier. The narrative centers on two estranged sisters, Bea and Phoebe, who reunite ahead of a crucial election. According to The Prague Reporter, Bea was raised in privileged circumstances by an adoptive mother due to chronic illness, while Phoebe survived on the streets. Their reunion leads them to discover that vampires control the city’s crime syndicates and are actively seeking political influence to protect their existence, turning human blood into a literal form of currency.

Cast and Creative Team

City of Blood stars Lea Drinda as Bea and Soma Pysall as Phoebe.

The series was created by Philipp Kadelbach and Elena Lyubarskaya, with Kadelbach directing. The writing team includes Kim Zimmermann, Daniela Baumgärtl, Martin Behnke, Nicki Bloom, and Tillmann Roth, alongside additional writing by Bernd Lange and Niko Schulz-Dornburg. Amelie von Kienlin serves as lead producer, with Malte Grunert, Klaus Dohle, and Daniel Brühl attached as executive producers.