After months up in space, Paula is back on Earth and will soon be reunited with her family. Just one more night until they’ll be in each other’s arms. But something is off. Paula’s acting… strange. The next day, her plane crashes. What was supposed to be a long-awaited homecoming turns into a disaster. As her husband, Sven, and daughter, Charlie, investigate Paula’s disappearance, they uncover secrets that pose an otherworldly threat to humankind.

Directed by Sebastian Hilger (Wir sind die Flut) and Philipp Leinemann (Blame Game), the German mystery-thriller The Signal stars Peri Baumeister, co-writer Florian David Fitz, and Yuna Bennett.

When will The Signal be released?

Stream all four episodes now.

Where can I find the trailer for The Signal?

Check it out at the top of this page. 

Peri Baumeister as Paula in The Signal

Sifeddine Elamine/Netflix

Who’s in the cast of The Signal?

• Peri Baumeister (Blood Red Sky) as Paula, a scientist
• Florian David Fitz (100 Things) as Sven, Paula’s husband, a teacher
• Yuna Bennett (Dear Thomas) as Charlie, Sven and Paula’s 9-year-old daughter
• Hadi Khanjanpour (Guy Ritchie’s The Covenant) as Hadi, Paula’s colleague
• Nilam Farooq (Contra) as Mira, Hadi’s wife
• Sheeba Chaddha (Talaash: The Answer Lies Within) as Mudhi, a billionaire who financed Paula’s space mission
• Katharina Schüttler (Generation War) as Nora, Mudhi’s assistant
• Meret Becker (Babylon Berlin) as Friederike, a police officer
• Katharina Thalbach (I’ve Never Been to New York) as The Moonwatcher
• Uwe Preuss (Deutschland 89) as Rainer, Paula’s instructor
• Seumas F. Sargent (The Billion Dollar Code) as Jake, the U.S. commander aboard the International Space Station (ISS)
• Michael Kranz (The White Ribbon) as Gregor, a police officer
• Marc Benjamin Puch (Wendehammer) as Ulrik, a family member of one of the plane crash victims

Yuna Bennett as Charlie in The Signal

Anika Molnar/Netflix

What’s the plot of The Signal?

After months on the ISS, scientist and astronaut Paula (Baumeister) is finally back on Earth. She’s just parachuted into the atmosphere aboard the Vision Capsule and, after a flight across the ocean, she’ll soon be back home with her family. But Paula never makes it, and the plane she boarded is nowhere to be found. It’s as if it completely vanished.

Paula’s husband, Sven (Fitz), is distraught and desperate for answers. He and his young daughter, Charlie (Bennett), grasp at any shred of hope they can find. Nothing turns up — until Sven finds out Paula has left him a riddle that may lead him to her. But the more he follows the clues, the more his life is upended. Sven realizes that his wife’s possible hints as to her whereabouts may instead be indications of an imminent disaster — not only for Sven and Charlie, but for the whole planet. It turns out, while stationed on the ISS, Paula made a harrowing discovery.

Is The Signal based on a book?

No. It’s an original idea from Wir sind die Flut writer Nadine Gottmann and its director, Sebastian Hilger. It was adapted for the screen by Gottmann; the series’ lead actor, Fitz; and Kim Zimmermann (The Perfumier).

Where does The Signal take place?

The series takes place in Germany and aboard the International Space Station. 

Peri Baumeister as Paula and Yuna Bennett as Charlie in The Signal 

Anika Molnar/Netflix

How does The Signal end?

Shortly before her mission on the ISS comes to an end, scientist Paula receives a signal from outer space: a voice saying “hello.” After some investigation, Paula figures out it’s a sign that alien life is trying to come to Earth. Paula calculates when and where it — whatever it is — will arrive, despite attempts by her colleague, Hadi (Khanjanpour), to thwart her. She then shares the coordinates to those on the ground. Once back on Earth, Paula figures out Hadi was trying to silence her on behalf of their employer, Mudhi (Chaddha), a philanthropist who funded the space mission. The next day, Paula and Hadi are killed on their way home in a plane crash.

Upon finding out about Paula’s discovery, the government makes plans to destroy the UFO with a missile. But Paula had purposely sent them the wrong coordinates, making it impossible for anyone to track down the craft. The only person with the correct coordinates is Paula and Sven’s daughter, Charlie, who received them via the radio she used to communicate with her mother during the space mission.

Peri Baumeister as Paula and Florian David Fitz as Sven in The Signal

Anika Molnar/Netflix

Thinking Mudhi will help them figure out what happened to Paula, Sven and Charlie meet her at the correct coordinates. On the way, Sven gets a message from police officer Friederike (Becker) telling him it was Mudhi who had Hadi and Paula killed. Mudhi wants to be the one to welcome these incoming ETs and will do anything to make sure that happens — so when Sven and Charlie arrive, Mudhi orders her assistant Nora (Schüttler) to kill them. Nora agrees but secretly lets them live. It’s Nora, with Friederike’s help, who later secures Mudhi’s arrest. 

Sven eventually figures out the aliens’ real arrival date — Paula transmitted it to him via a coded voicemail she left before her death. On that day, Sven and Charlie drive back to the coordinates. There, they find not a UFO, but NASA’s Voyager 1 space probe (a real space probe from 1977 that carried the Golden Record — which contained, among other things, audio recordings of greetings, wildlife, and music from Earth). What Paula heard while on the ISS was not from an alien trying to make contact, but a voice recording of a human child. 

What does the ending of The Signal mean?

So who — or what — sent the probe back to Earth… and why? As news broadcasts play a recap of the entire debacle, reporters suggest the Voyager 1 being sent back might be a message that humankind has fallen far from where it used to be. Our instinct to destroy an unknown entity trying to make contact with Earth — without first greeting it or attempting to understand it — shows more about our modern proclivity toward violence than toward peace. 

Searching the universe for more out-of-this-world shows? Check out our guides to find your next fave sci-fi series — or movie — to stream now.

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