Disney+ has released the debut trailer for City of Blood, a new eight-part German thriller that was filmed extensively in Prague and across the Czech Republic in 2024. The series, which combines dystopian science fiction with vampire mythology, is set to premiere on Disney+ in the UK on Sept. 16.
Produced by Berlin-based Amusement Park Film, the company behind the Oscar-winning All Quiet on the Western Front, City of Blood was shot over 110 filming days in the Czech Republic between May 25 and Sept. 12, 2024. Czech production was handled by Sirena Film, which also worked with Amusement Park on All Quiet on the Western Front.
The first trailer offers a look at the series’ alternate vision of Berlin, where extreme climate conditions, social inequality and organized crime have transformed the city into a divided state. At the center of the story are two sisters who are reunited as they uncover the hidden forces controlling their society.
Prague doubles for a dystopian Berlin
While City of Blood is set in Berlin, much of the production was filmed in the Czech Republic. Prague served as one of the principal locations, with filming also taking place in Brno, Ústí nad Labem, Trmice, Chomutov, Králův Dvůr, Soutice, Benešov, Lahovice, Kostelec nad Černými lesy, Lysá nad Labem and Kladno.
The Prague shoot was first reported by The Prague Reporter during production in 2024, when the project was being kept largely under wraps. Filming was taking place in locations around the Czech capital, including Prague city streets, as the production built its dystopian version of Berlin.
At the time, the series was known to be an adaptation of Berlinoir, a graphic novel series by German illustrator Reinhard Kleist and author Tobias O. Meißner. The source material imagines an alternate Berlin ruled by vampires and explores themes of political oppression, resistance and totalitarian power.
The television adaptation takes a different approach while retaining the vampire-controlled society at its center. The series depicts a Berlin ravaged by climate change, where an unbearable heat has accompanied the collapse of social order. A privileged population lives beneath an air-conditioned dome, while the rest of the city is increasingly affected by crime and violence.
The production received support from the Czech Audiovisual Fund and the South Moravian Film Fund, alongside German financing from the German Motion Picture Fund and Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg. The project was also developed with support from the European Union’s Creative Europe – MEDIA program.
Two sisters uncover a vampire power structure
City of Blood follows sisters Bea and Phoebe, who were separated during childhood. Bea, who is chronically ill, grows up in privileged circumstances with her adoptive mother, while Phoebe is forced to survive on the streets of Berlin.
Their paths cross again ahead of a crucial election, leading the sisters to discover that vampires control the city’s organized crime networks. The vampires are also seeking political influence to protect their continued existence, turning blood into a literal form of currency.
The series stars Lea Drinda and Soma Pysall as Bea and Phoebe, respectively, alongside Franz Hartwig, Jördis Triebel, David Schütter, Mouataz Alshaltouh, Jenny Schily, Dagmar Manzel, Melika Foroutan, Jan Georg Schütte and Lars Eidinger.
Philipp Kadelbach directed the series and created it with Elena Lyubarskaya. The writing team also includes Kim Zimmermann, Daniela Baumgärtl, Martin Behnke, Nicki Bloom and Tillmann Roth, with additional writing by Bernd Lange and Niko Schulz-Dornburg.
Kadelbach previously filmed in Prague on projects including We Children from Bahnhof Zoo. City of Blood also marks his continued collaboration with Amusement Park Film following the 2022 thriller series Munich Games.
Amelie von Kienlin is the lead producer, with Malte Grunert, Klaus Dohle and Daniel Brühl serving as executive producers. Brühl, one of Amusement Park’s partners, is also among the executive producers of the new series.
The company’s best-known recent production is All Quiet on the Western Front, which was filmed extensively around Prague in 2021 and went on to win four Academy Awards, including Best International Feature Film. Amusement Park has continued to work in the Czech Republic, with the company also involved in the upcoming BBC and MGM+ series Legacy of Spies, which began filming in Prague in 2026.
With City of Blood, the Czech Republic once again stands in for a European capital on screen, this time providing locations for a Berlin transformed by climate catastrophe and a hidden vampire power structure. The series will premiere Sept. 16 on Disney+.
