Tempo della crisi e attesa della fine. Vita straniera e liberazione nella serie tedesca Dark

The countless crises that have characterised the last century have given birth to a vast imaginary of catastrophes. This imaginary finds an inexhaustible source in those popular culture narratives that explore the ‘approach of the end’. Among these narratives, a prominent place is occupied by Dark. Within the science fiction genre, this Netflix series explores the theme of time travel based on the postulates of the theory of relativity. Dark’s main narrative draws a cylindrical space-time dimension in which free will seems to be denied. In such a cosmology, the world becomes a prison. Referring to the framework of the mediatization of religion and occulture, this paper aims to investigate the articulation of Dark’s esoteric and (fanta)scientific narrative, situating it in the stream of the gnostic return that runs through popular culture.