Crystal Wall is a German-Austrian TV programme that was made for

ZDF ZDF (), short for (; ), is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. Launched on 1 April 1963, it is run as an independent nonprofit institution, and was founded by all federal states of Germany ( ...

in 2024 by the production companies Producers at Work and Wega Film. The first season has 24 episodes, which are broadcast online on a weekly basis. The first episode aired on 10 April 2025 on ZDF's

streaming service Streaming media refers to multimedia delivered through a network for playback using a media player. Media is transferred in a ''stream'' of packets from a server to a client and is rendered in real-time; this contrasts with file downl ...

Plot

The MMA fighter Louna Loris saves the millionare-to-be Nicolas Dardenne from a life-or-death situation. In return, she is appointed as his personal

bodyguard A bodyguard (or close protection officer/operative) is a type of security guard, government law enforcement officer, or servicemember who protects an very important person, important person or group of people, such as high-ranking public offic ...

. However, Louna is pursuing another goal; she wants to find out about her father's mysterious death. He worked for the powerful Dardenne company and died under strange circumstances. While she works at Nicolas' side, the pair become closer, which is a cause of great conflict for Louna, because of her mistrust for the influential family. The so-called 'crystal wall' is symbolic of the world that separates Louna and Nicolas, but with time these differences begin to crumble.

Production

Based on the literary genre of

new adult fiction New adult (NA) fiction is a developing genre of fiction with protagonists in the 18–29 age bracket. St. Martin's Press first coined the term in 2009, when they held a special call for "fiction similar to young adult fiction (YA) that can be ...

, the romance-drama series was created for a younger target audience. The

screenplay A screenplay, or script, is a written work produced for a film, television show (also known as a '' teleplay''), or video game by screenwriters (cf. ''stage play''). Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of w ...

was written by Lead Writer and Creative Producer Brigit Waiwald together with a

Writers' Room A writers' room is a space where writers, usually of a television series, gather to write and refine scripts. It is a common method of writing television series in the US, but is much less widespread in countries like the UK. Composition The ...

that included Florian Vey, Silva Raddatz, Aglef Püschel, Katja Grübel und Burkhard Wunderlich. The series was directed by Tarek Roehlinger (episodes 1–12) and Greta Benkelmann (episodes 13–24), and produced by Producers at Work and Wega Film for ZDF. The show consists of one series with 24 episodes. The show features model

Barbara Meier Barbara Meier (born 25 July 1986) is a German fashion model and actress. She is best known as the winner of Germany's Next Topmodel (season 2), the second season of ''Germany's Next Topmodel''. Early life Born in the small Bavarian town of Am ...

in a

guest appearance The term guest appearance generally denotes the appearance of a guest in an artistic or pop-culture setting. The guests themselves (referred to as guest artists, featured artists, guest stars, or guest fighters, depending on context), are disting ...

as Valerie. Filming took place in Berlin and Vienna. The series premiered on 8 April 2025 at the Achtung Berlin film festival, and the first episode aired on 10 April 2025.

Reception

Prisma praised the series, in particular its diverse cast and Anna Bardavelidze's performance as Louna. In contrast,

Die Tageszeitung ''Die Tageszeitung'' (, "The Daily Newspaper"), stylized as ''die tageszeitung'' and commonly referred to as ''taz'', is a German daily newspaper. It is run as a cooperative – it is administered by its employees and a co-operative of sharehol ...

criticises the show's illogical dialogue and outdated aesthetic, as well its failure to look beyond typical

tropes Trope or tropes may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Trope (cinema), a cinematic convention for conveying a concept * Trope (literature), a figure of speech or common literary device * Trope (music), any of a variety of different things in m ...

of the genre. Kulturnews praises Brigit Waiwald's writing, in particular the characters' depth, as well as the actors' performances. However, it questions the viewers' ability to empathise with Nicolas' suffering due to his wealthy background.

Episode list

Series 1

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, id=tt35829382 German television series Austrian television series 2020s television series Romance television series Drama television series ZDF original programming ZDFneo original programming German-language television shows Crime television series German crime television series Austrian crime television series