Will There Be a ‘Vienna Blood’ Season 5? What Book Author Has Said About Show’s Future
The Vienna Blood finale is already near. The fourth season of the PBS drama was just a short four episodes, and Episode 3 aired on Sunday, January 19. The finale is scheduled for Sunday, January 26. But the show is running out of book plot with Season 4, and its future is so far unclear. Will there be a Vienna Blood Season 5? Here’s what we know.
What is Vienna Blood about?
Based on Frank Tallis’ Max Liebermann book series, Vienna Blood stars Matthew Beard as Max Liebermann, a student of Sigmund Freud who helps Detective Oskar Rheinhardt (Jüergen Maurer) in the investigation of a series of disturbing murders around the grand cafés and opera houses of 1900s Vienna.
Is Vienna Blood renewed?
As of the time of publication, there is no word on Vienna Blood returning for a fifth season. The series already aired in the UK in 2024, with its finale coming out this past summer on BBC, and there’s been no renewal or final season announcements since. Given that Season 4 is based on the seventh and last book in the Max Liebermann book series (Vienna Blood is the title of the second novel), Season 4 has been presumed to be its last.
What is the order of Frank Tallis’ Dr. Max Lieberman books?
The first Max Liebermann book was published in 2005, and the last was in 2018. Here’s the books in order:
- Mortal Mischief (2005)
- Vienna Blood (2006)
- Fatal Lies (2008)
- Darkness Rising (2009)
- Deadly Communion (2010)
- Death and the Maiden (2011)
- Mephisto Waltz (2018)
Season 4 has four episodes, but Season 3 (which aired in 2023 on PBS) had six. In Season 4 Episode 3 on January 19, Max was in a coma and the doctors didn’t know if he would survive, and Oskar went on the run. This was preceded by Max and Oskar’s murder investigation taking them into a world of underground gambling.
Will there be a Vienna Blood Season 5?
Season 4 has been covering the plot of the last book, leading fans to believe that this season could be its last. But Tallis implied that there could be more seasons even though the current season is covering the final book.
“What impressed me about the creativity of Steve Thompson’s Mephisto Waltz script is the sheer dramatic intensity — it’s grander than previous series, and Vienna Blood was quite a grand series before,” Tallis told What to Watch, per Hello!. “Right from the beginning I made the decision I was going to take a backseat in the BBC’s adaptation. For me, the test of whether an idea is good or not is if you can hand it over and other people can run with it, but the core remains the same. TV is a very different medium to a novel and a production like this is a group accomplishment. Having a novelist too heavily involved could constrain the talent and be an obstacle to the group’s creativity.”
“When you exhaust the books, if you’ve let the idea develop and gain its own momentum, in a way it doesn’t need the novels or the author anymore,” he continued, “but doesn’t in any way stop me from writing proposals or plot ideas!”
Tallis seems to think that the show is strong enough on its own to continue.
When does the Vienna Blood finale come out?
As said above, the Vienna Blood Season 4 finale airs Sunday, January 26 on PBS. It starts at 10/9c after a new episode of All Creatures Great and Small Season 5 (this week on All Creatures, Tristan returns!).
Vienna Blood, Season 4 Finale, Sunday, January 26, 10/9c, PBC
Conversation33 Comments
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R
I have absolutely enjoyed this series. The writing and acting are top notch! It has held my interest from the very beginning. I really hope that a writer will continue storylines after the end of the book series. I believe the characters are strong enough to carry a lot more stories. It will just take an imaginative writer to continue.
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R
I hope that Vienna Blood will continue. I really enjoy watching it.
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G
I love the setting, costumes and character development including the quirky relationship of Oskar & Max. Hoping there is a season 5!
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P
I adore Vienna Blood. Will be so sorry to see it go. Everything was top notch!!
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G
Excellent series. The interplay between Max and the detective is absolutely superb. They are like the odd couple trying to solve these crimes. Vienna is absolutely stunning. I hope there are more seasons of this well written, beautifully acted drama.
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C
Vienna Blood is brilliant. The characters are fantastic. I love the actors. We NEED Season 5.
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L
Vienna Blood is an exquisite show in every sense of the word. Dynamic stories, superb actors, settings that brought me to Vienna. A show that must continue to thrive and please its audience
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G
This was absolutely fabulous. I am so looking forward to the next season. Such a wonderful success.
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B
This is a compelling and fantastic storyline with rich, interesting characters.It’s by far one of the best series! I really hope there is a season 5. There is so much potential to continue the story of Max & Oskar.
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C
This has absolutely been one of the BEST series on PBS! I believe that there is much more that can be mined from this concept! Two absolutely great actors and a lot of potential for story lines from that era in time! I truly hope that something can work out for future seasons!
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P
Would love to see season 5 of Vienna blood.love the romance with Max and clara
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C
Please continue this series! It is amazingly acted. It is dark, yet beautiful; it is historical, yet contemporary.
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R
When something is this good, well scripted and produced keep it alive. This is the great production we need to watch today! Season five get started!
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G
Just finished watching Season 4 of Vienna Blood, and am experiencing withdrawal. There MUST be a continuation of this superb series. PLEASE!!
From the amazing opening graphics, to the scenes, (Vienna of yore) it is mesmerizing. The actors are wonderful in their respective roles, and the chemistry between Max and Oscar is heart-warming. If anyone in production cares, please continue this enthralling show.
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O
Vienna Blood is one if the best mysteries on TV. It left the audience hanging with all the loose ends hanging. Does the inspector married the widow in the slum and give her and her daughter a better life? What about Max and the Journalist do they get married? I'm sure the inspector may have a cool reception at headquarters he may have to prove himself all over again to his colleagues. What about the assisan daughter she should be around 20 by now. The black hand with the crow feather was a clue where the daughter was introduced as a street girl but she was really with her father the assistant. We need a Season 5, 6, 7.
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O
With shows like this I think PBS could become a powerhouse of entertainment. Such a well thought out storyline and great acting we need more shows like this to stimulate our mines
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S
This has been a terrific and beautifully scripted and acted production. I fully believe this series could and should continue even without a book to lead the storylines. Kudos to this entire production and superb cast for an outstanding TV experience. I pray it will give us more seasons.
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C
I love this show especially the way Oskar and Max interact. They are great together.
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P
Please continue this series!! So little good quality shows on, this one is top notch !
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B
Exceptional TV in every way, writing, acting, production.. Hope it stays.
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R
I was reading below and saw one fan used the word “exquisite” to describe Vienna Blood. That is such a good word because every tiny drop of it that bleeds onto the screen and soaked into you as the characters move on the screen.
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R
I really hope they create another season of Vienna Blood because they have an audience of fans who just loved the show and can’t wait for more! Their fans are literally chomping at the bit!
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R
Vienna Blood is my favorite show of 24 and 25 so far! I love mysteries. I love period costume dramas. I love interesting relationships like between most of the characters in this series have. I love learning new historical facts or new perspectives on it. I love learning about how different classes and groups of people managed to exist in the periods historic fiction is written in. I am so hoping Vienna Blood comes back with another season. There’s ample things they left open to do more shows off of but as the authors points out. A good show should be able to create more shows or another season or more by the material they have made all of these seasons off of. He does not want to constrain them just to his books material already written. There’s so much that exists on the political culture of the times (that they have made a part of the content of the show) and the players who were apart of the Mephisto scenes that included people within the police, the war and government offices and military arms makers and more. There’s also issues with his families business interests left dangling there. I hope they make another season because Vienna blood was soooo good and had such depth to it, like an old masters painting that covers a wall in a museum that you can simply step right through. There’s such deep color and texture and double meanings to the things they say or hide and in this time period that’s a lot.
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O
Loved it! I really hope they continue on to a season 5. I believe season 4 was the best so I would love to see them write a season better than the last. Now I want to read the books.
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B
A great show, well written, love the stories and characters
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B
As a committed fan I so need to see this story to the END! It needs some kind of end or wrap if you will if it truly is not going to continue. Really 4 episodes is all they made for season 4? I wonder what those who make such decisions are forgetting? The bottom line is Viewers who become fans love this story. But NO ONE promotes it and no one seems to commit to it so some fans will just float off due to lack of any kind of feeling it'll last long enough to find a decent exit. I would hope someone recognizes how insane and HOW RUDE this behavior is to those consumers or fans if you will pay or grant them this right as in it is not their ego's that are fed here it's the viewers who you screw and in the end your careers I hope that fall short and you'll have to find work you are more educated for. Love the series. The actors and writing is most entertaining and novel and well dang I could consume 8-28 episodes a year without fail and buy the DVD releases to review too. (We live in a rural area where streaming is not a reliable option. Seventy eight percent of our county has no cell service for starters.)
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B
Please!! We need a season 5. These two men are gold together- playing off each other’s great character strengths. The finale left the door open so let’s walk on through!!
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G
This is a great series and could withstand more than 6 series. As the writer of the books is not that involved, those that have written the episodes are excellent in their portrayals of Oskar and Max and there is no reason to think they'd not continue in this vein.
I, for one, would love for more series to be developed.
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G
I want more seasons. 并且希望加大对这部好剧的宣传力度！
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O
I loved this series. All of it is excellent.
But I want to say that Clara has the most wonderful hats and costumes and she wears them so well.
All the costumes were wonderful.
It’s a visual feast for the eyes.
And it’s so unique that it takes place in Vienna.
Loved that Goethe made it into the story!
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K
Excellent series! The script was perfect and the actors, too. We hope for more episodes of "Vienna Blood". Is the writer still alive? He can update the series to 1950 or 1960. Thanks for the great shows!
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J
I think it's a terrible shame. There is plenty of scope for more Vienna Blood. I've read all 7 novels and loved them all.
Sadly, US production companies keep cancelling the good shows and keep such a lot of rubbish, just because those series are cheaper to make.
But, what do I know, I'm a 68 year old Brit, who's been watching TV since I could walk!
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B
I love Matthew Beard.
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