After Dark and The Signal, the next German sci-fi series is coming to Netflix. In Cassandra, a manipulative robot unleashes terrifying psychological terror.
“Good morning, sunshine!” With this catchy Nana Mouskouri song, the smart home AI Cassandra wakes up the Prill family living in her house every day. But don’t be fooled by the funny, croaking singing voice. This friendly household robot is the star of a bitterly evil sci-fi thriller series – and its new housemates are definitely not having a good morning.
From February 6, 2025, you can stream the mini-series Cassandra on Netflix. Following Dark, 1899 and Das Signal, this is the fourth German series production by the streaming service to be dedicated to the science fiction genre. Find out here in our series review whether the result is convincing.
Sci-Fi thriller about robots with fear of loss: That’s what awaits you in the Netflix series Cassandra
That’s what Cassandra is about: After a traumatic tragedy, the Prill family leaves the big city of Hamburg behind and moves into a house in the village that has not been occupied for 50 years. But it is no ordinary home: it is Germany’s first smart home, equipped in the 1970s with an advanced computer system called Cassandra (Lavinia Wilson). Via screens installed in every room, with an ever-smiling face and a mobile robot unit, the AI presents itself as the ultimate household helper.
Watch the trailer for Cassandra here:
From the outset, mother Samira (Mina Tander) is not entirely comfortable with the omnipresent smart home system. She has every reason to, when Cassandra, affectionately dubbed Scary Poppins by one character, takes every opportunity to undermine Samira’s role in the family with cutting comments, stares at father David (Michael Klammer) a little too lustfully and even introduces herself to little daughter Juno (Mary Tölle) and gay teenage son Fynn (Joshua Kantara) as the new mom . This robot lady with a 1970s world view (and music taste!) wants to be a mother and a wife – and she wants this family.
However, this is only one storyline. The Netflix series takes place on two different time levels and also takes us back to the 1970s, where the (completely human) housewife Cassandra (also played by Lavinia Wilson) wants to maintain the appearance of the perfect family in the midst of problems with an unfaithful husband (Franz Hartwig) and a son with behavioral issues (Elias Grünthal). How exactly the robot psychoterror and the family drama are connected will not be revealed at this point for spoiler reasons. Because Cassandra, the series, thrives on insane and devastating twists.
Extremely entertaining mix of sci-fi thriller and tragedy
Those who celebrate the biting AI diva M3gan and the bitter family manipulation of the thriller Orphan will have a thieving good time with Cassandra. The series works best in its blackly humorous moments, when the titular robo-sociopath thrives in her role as a menacing manipulator, uttering many a nasty saying – or cutting off fingers with a scissor hand.
With every shocked look (when two boys kiss), every eye roll (when Samira enters the room again) and every lecherous stare (when she watches a man masturbating in the shower!) actress Lavinia Wilson gets the maximum of scurrility out of the limited facial expressions of her screen face.
The wonderfully nasty intrigues and transgressions (kids, don’t crawl into ovens!) make the clunky robot a threatening presence. The thriller fun is contrasted with the tragic family drama of the flashback sequences and topics such as sexism, homophobia, and mental illness, which give the wild smart home chaos a surprisingly emotional touch. Above all, Lavinia Wilson, who plays two contrasting roles, so to speak, manages to strike a fascinating balance between tragic heroine and psychotic villain with her strong acting.
Thrilling thriller, not enough horror: is Cassandra worth watching?
As early as 1977, the sci-fi film Devil’s Seed transformed a smart home into a hellish nightmare for its inhabitants and virtually founded the subgenre of domestic horror, whose greatest triumph to date – and there’s no debate about this – remains the Ultrahouse 3000 of The Simpsons.
Although Netflix’s Cassandra follows familiar horror and psychological thriller patterns and reveals some brutal role models, the series never really crosses the boundaries into sci-fi horror completely. Those expecting a killer robot to escalate may be disappointed.
But even without gore, Cassandra is an insanely entertaining psychological thriller with intriguing characters, a charming retro aesthetic, clever science fiction concepts and some wild twists. In particular, no one will see the mega-twist that occurs later in the story coming. At the same time, one of the series’ great strengths becomes clear here: Cassandra doesn’t just rely on shocks, but once again emphasizes in the finale that each revelation uncovers further tragic layers of the character drama.
