You may not realize it, but the fantasy genre has a way of bridging boundaries between radically different groups of people. While worldly cultures and customs often collide in a tangle of expectations and misunderstandings, fantasy worlds provide a level playing field for telling a universally understood story.
For example indoors Prime Video’s forthcoming German original, The Griffin, you don’t need to understand the history of German culture and mannerisms to enjoy a classic tale from one of the country’s most prolific authors. It would certainly help, but it’s not necessary.
Yes, The Griffin — in other words, The Greif — from acclaimed German author Wolfgang Hohlbein appears on the small screen in an epic fantasy series produced by Amazon. Originally announced in 2021 alongside Luden And Fesseltthe series is being developed by the same studio behind Netflix’s critically acclaimed series DarkW&B Television.
As if that wasn’t enough, the head of Prime Video’s German Originals has even named the project as one of the biggest fantasy projects since The story without end. We’re excited to see what this series has to offer, which means it’s time to discuss everything we know about Prime Videos The Griffin.
Prime Videos The Gryphon: The Plot
The official plot synopsis for The Griffin per Prime Video states:
“The three misfits Mark, Memo and Becky discover a fantastic world called The Black Tower where the Gryphon, a world-devouring monster, ruthlessly subjugates all living creatures. And Mark is the only one who can defeat it. But he is not a hero and does not “He doesn’t want to be one. He has enough to deal with school, his tantrums and his first love. Fighting monsters is out of the question. But when Mark’s brother Thomas disappears, the friends must venture into this fantastic world and face the Danger.”
The synopsis gives off a similar vibe to that of a typical “young adult” story. Logical, since the original novel was intended for such an audience. However, despite the negative connotations associated with the “young adult” genre, it’s important to remember that plenty of quality stories exist within it.
Media franchises such as Harry Potter And The hunger Games clearly resonated with their target audience and beyond. Who’s to say that The Gyphon can’t draw something similar?
Because it’s a six-episode series The Griffin in a unique position. For starters, the series isn’t limited by the typical length restrictions of a movie production. Time can be spent developing the world of The Black Tower and its various creatures, along with turning Mark into a character with a bit more depth than a typical fantasy protagonist.
A big part of what makes fantasy fiction interesting is what makes their inventive worlds tick, which means striking a balance between exposition and storytelling is crucial for audiences. Considering that Dark was praised for its compelling, if not hard-to-follow story, we can expect something equally captivating from it The Griffin.
Placing the series in the 1990s rather than the 1980s or modern day also feels like an interesting creative choice, allowing the series to pluck cultural references from that era in a similar way to Stranger things. As much as we like the eighties, the synthesizers and neon lights have had enough of the spotlight.
Prime Videos The Gryphon: The Cast
As it is a German production, the majority of the cast is rightfully made up of German actors. In the lead role of Mark, we have Jeremias Meyer, an actor who has been hard at work for over a decade. Aside from minor roles in everything from medical dramas (Doctor Klein) to crime shows (SOKO Munich), he also appeared in all three films of the Vampire sisters trilogy. You may recognize Meyer from his other Prime Video series, We children of Bahnhof Zoo.
The roles of Mark’s friends, Memo and Becky, will be played by Zoran Pingel and Lea Drinda respectively. While Pingel is recognizable from his performance The islandan eerily prescient series that predated the coronavirus outbreak, in which Drinda can be found We children of Bahnhof Zoo, The PeppercornsAnd Letzte Spur Berlin.
Other cast members are expected to appear The Griffin among others Sabine Timoteo (Drift, Love, money, love), Flora Li Thiemann (The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes), Yuri Volsch (Devotion phobia), Samira Breuer (A summer on Lake Garda), Thorsten Merten (Operation Curve) and Sebi Jaeger (Fly, Dessau dancers).
Date of publication
The Griffin will be streaming exclusively on Prime Video starting May 26.
Prime Videos The Gryphon: Everything Else
The effects used for The Griffins fantastic creatures will include both VFX and prosthetics, the latter being provided by several artists who previously worked under Guillermo Del Toro. The few glimpses we catch of the creatures immediately draw comparisons to the Spanish director’s dark fantasy creations, with the ones still to be seen promising an equal level of whimsy and intrigue.