“The Swarm”: when and how will season 2 of the sci-fi series continue?

With “Der Schwarm”, ZDF has dared to try to set up a series project that should cause a stir not only in Germany but internationally. Frank Schätzing’s template of the same name is considered a classic of literature and has been translated into 27 languages ​​worldwide with more than 3.8 million copies. So the route to follow was clear: don’t mess around, but pack big!

Now that the series has not only appeared in the ZDF media library, but has also been broadcast on free TV, fans of the adaptation now have a question: when and how will “The Swarm” continue? Is a second season planned? Showrunner Frank Doelger spoke in an interview with in this regard as follows: “We started with the hope that there would be a second season.” This makes it clear that the series “The Swarm” is designed for several seasons, but there is no official confirmation of an extension yet.

+++ Beware: Spoilers ahead for the first season finale “The Swarm” +++

The various “The Swarm” endings

Anyone who has read the novel “The Swarm” may be a little surprised by the differences from the original in the series finale. It is discovered in the series that the yrr (that is, the sea intelligence that uses ocean creatures to attack humans) can be poisoned with ketamine. However, it is also made clear that if the ocean dies, so will humanity.

Although a weapon is being built and tested to destroy the Yrr, the humans resort to an alternative idea to ensure their survival: they must show the naval intelligence that they are part of it. By putting the yrr in Roscovitz’s corpse (Klaas Heufer orbit) are injected, they can fuse with its cells. However, for humans to successfully interact with the swarm collective, they must first descend to great depths.

Charlie Wagner (Leonie Benesch) then takes the sub to the ocean only to discover that Roscovitz has been dead too long to allow communication. Instead, she sacrifices herself. The Yrr then understands the humans and the global naval attacks end. At the very end, Charlie’s body washes up on a shore. Her eyes glisten blue, suggesting that she not only survived, but was absorbed into the Yrr. The focus here is on hope for humanity.

In the novel, the unserious or rewritten character Karen Weaver dives into the ocean. She hands over a corpse full of Yrr pheromones as a messenger substance to the underwater intelligence. This forces Weaver into an emotional response and the swarm stops attacking. Weaver survives the dive. There is then a moment in time that shows how a year later humanity is still recovering from the conflict and realigning its society without letting nature suffer as the underwater power watches them.

What does the end of season 1 mean for season 2?

There are two different endings. The series finale is like a cliffhanger as it creates several ambiguities: Has Charlie changed? Is she now controlled by the Yrr and not the person she used to be? Has the conflict between humans and underwater intelligence really ended? All questions that could be answered in a second season.

Showrunner Frank Doelger spoke Tv movie online as follows: “It was very important for us to give the series a hopeful ending: for the first time, there was this communication [zwischen den Wissenschaftlern und der Intelligenz]. And the second season will be themed ‘This is the last chance’. This intelligent life form gives us one last chance to correct our way of life. But that is all far in the future.”

While the ending of the first season may be open-ended, it wouldn’t be entirely unsuitable as a conclusion to the series. In any case, the topics that season 1 has already made clear (especially with regard to environmental and marine protection) can be shortened even further. And Charlie should certainly play a more than decisive role…

However, it must also be said here that the first season of “Der Schwarm” was not only damn expensive (44 million euros, which ZDF collected together with international production companies), but also that the series as a whole was received rather negatively. feedback (example HERE). And not just from template provider Frank Schätzing. So it remains to be seen if season 2 of The Swarm actually gets there.