15 Questions Netflix's Dark Needs to Answer in Season 3

All shows that dare to engage with the complex mechanics of time travel and non-linear narratives are inherently confusing, but Netflix's popular sci-fi series Dark is perhaps the most confusing of them all. With the stories of the Kahnwalds, Nielsens, Dopplers, and Tiedemanns all interconnected because of various characters from the past mingling with characters from the present and future, each episode of the German series leaves us with more questions than the last. And now that Jonas (Louis Hofmann) has traveled to a second universe with an alternate version of Martha (Lisa Vicari), the list keeps getting longer and longer.

As Dark approaches its third and final season, we gathered up the most pressing questions we still have in the hopes that the final eight episodes will shed some light on them when the show returns on Saturday, June 27. 

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1. Who is Regina's father?
The family trees of the four families at the heart of Dark are mighty confusing, but after two seasons we know who most everyone is and how they are connected, including who Charlotte's (Karoline Eichhorn) parents are. But we still don't know the identity of Regina's (Deborah Kaufmann) father, and that has to be purposeful. Now, we know Claudia (Julika Jenkins) had an affair with Tronte Nielsen (Felix Kramer) in the 1980s and they first developed feelings for each other in the '50s. Could he be Regina's father? Are Regina and Ulrich (Oliver Masucci) actually half-siblings? That would probably be the least surprising familial relationship in the entire show.

2. How is Charlotte both Elisabeth's daughter and her mother?
We understand time is not linear and that paradoxes happen, but the fact that someone is both the mother and daughter of another character is some serious time travel shenanigans. What does that DNA look like? 

3. How did Charlotte end up being raised by H.G. Tannhaus?
Charlotte seems to be at the center of some of Dark's most confusing elements. We know Tannhaus (Christian Steyer), the clockmaker, is not biologically related to Charlotte, so how did she come to be placed in his care? Who put her there? And why was she taken from Noah (Mark Waschke) and Elisabeth (Sandra Borgmann) in the first place?

4. Who is Tronte's father?
In the 1950s, a young Tronte (Joshio Marlon) revealed to a young Claudia (Gwendolyn Göbel) that he was living in a home prior to relocating to Winden in 1953 with his mother, Agnes Nielsen (Antje Traue). We can assume that he was in a home because Agnes was working for Sic Mundus and his father wasn't in the picture, but who is Tronte's father? According to a conversation Agnes had with Doris Tiedemann (Luise Heyer), he was a man of the church before he died. But is he actually dead? Like Regina's father, his identity has been hidden from us, and there has to be a reason for it. 

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5. What happens to make Jonas become Adam?
We know Adam (Dietrich Hollinderbäumer) shoots and kills Martha to hurt Jonas and ensure he eventually becomes Adam, but Adam also tells Jonas it takes him decades to let go of Martha -- adult Jonas is still trying to change things and save the world, after all -- so what happens that pushes Jonas to take the steps to become Adam and wage a war against God, time, and humanity itself?

6. Is Agnes really working against Adam?
In Season 2, Agnes returns to Sic Mundus and Adam, seemingly as a double agent working with the older version of Claudia (Lisa Kreuzer). She shoots and kills her brother, Noah, aka Hanno, in the finale after he loses his faith in Adam and his plan. But has she actually returned to Sic Mundus? Is she undercover for Claudia, or was she a triple agent all along? 

7. How did Wöller lose his eye?
How Wöller (Leopold Hornung) lost his eye in the summer of 2019 is Dark's greatest mystery. We came so close to finding out what happened in Season 2, when he started to tell Inspector Clausen (Sylvester Groth), but he was interrupted when a time-traveling Claudia ran in front of his car and he had to slam on the brakes to avoid hitting her. The final season better explain how he lost his eye, and it better not be in something trivial, like a drunken game of lawn darts.

8. Who wrote the triquetra notebook?
The triquetra notebook details everything that has happened or will happen, and we've seen it in the hands of numerous characters over the course of the series, but who actually recorded everything? Was it Claudia? We know she was in possession of the final pages that Noah had been searching for, but is she the author of the notebook? Or is it someone else?

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9. Why is Hannah the worst?
I don't think we're actually ever going to get an explanation for Hannah (Maja Schöne) or her selfish behavior, but Hannah being the worst is one of the few constants in a show that regularly shocks and surprises viewers with new revelations. Will we ever be given a reason, or was she just born this way?

10. Are we supposed to root for Jonas and Martha even though they're related?
I was vehemently against the pairing of Daenerys Targaryen and Jon Snow because of their incestuous relationship (though rushed writing also played a role). Martha and Jonas' story is similar in that they are also an aunt and nephew who fell in love prior to learning they were related. The show positions the two as star-crossed lovers, destined to be together if only they can overcome the obstacles in their path, so viewers want to see them find happiness together. However, being an incestuous relationship, it's also incredibly difficult to root for them to succeed.  But are they really perfect for each other, no matter what anyone else says?

11. Who is the young girl in 2053 working with Elisabeth?
Only one of Elisabeth's followers in the future has any real storyline, and that is Silja (Lea van Acken), the young woman who freed Jonas and was with him when he stabilized the God particle in the ruins of the nuclear power plant. She was caught leaving the room by Elisabeth. We can't shake the feeling that she has a larger role to play in the future of Dark. 

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12. Is Hannah Katharina's mom?
This fan theory has been floating around the interwebs for a while now, and with good reason. We know that Katharina's (Jördis Triebel) mother was violent toward her when she was younger, and we know Hannah always resented Katharina for having everything she wanted. With Hannah now living in the past, is it possible she is somehow also Katharina's mother and this further enraged her? I admit it seems unlikely because Katharina likely would have noticed if Hannah grew up to look a lot like her mother had, but the identity of Katharina's mother has yet to be disclosed, and like Regina and Tronte's parentage, there's probably a reason it's still shrouded in mystery.

13. What is up with Aleksander's past and those murders?
We still know very little about Aleksander Tiedemann (Peter Benedict), aka Boris Niewald, and his connection to the Marburg murders, including the presumed death of Aleksander Kohler, before he stole his identity moved Winden. But so much of Season 2's overarching storyline revolved around that detail that we can't help but wonder if we'll ever find out the truth.

14. Can the cycle be broken?
This season is all about the final cycle, with Jonas attempting to stop it and save both Martha and his world from the apocalypse, but is that possible? Or are these characters simply destined to follow the same paths forever?

15. What brand is that yellow raincoat and where is it sold?
It's extremely durable and exists in multiple universes! Who wouldn't want one?

Dark's third and final season premieres Saturday, June 27 on Netflix.