Babylon Berlin final season turns to Hitler's rise

The final season of "Babylon Berlin" will close the German TV drama's Weimar-era story with Adolf Hitler's rise to power, as its German launch coincides with renewed debate over the far-right Alternative for Germany party.

Season 5 is set for a red-carpet premiere at Berlin's Zoo Palast cinema on September 10. No international release date has been announced.

Directors Tom Tykwer, Achim von Borries and Henk Handloegten said the timing was "pure coincidence" after the AfD won a state election last Sunday. They said viewers may still see parallels between the series' setting in the final years of the Weimar Republic and modern concerns about democracy.

The ARD series, inspired by Volker Kutscher's crime novels, follows police inspector Gereon Rath and Charlotte Ritter in Berlin from the 1929 crash to Hitler's seizure of power in 1933. Tykwer said the show reflects the "vulnerability" of democracies, while Handloegten said the final season takes a clear political stance.