Crooks

During the series' development phase, the working title was 'Criminel' and Marvin Kren loosely used the 1960 French film 'Der Panther wird gehetzt' (starring Lino Ventura and Jean-Paul Belmondo) as a source of inspiration.

The story's idea was inspired by the theft of a gold coin (Big Maple Leaf) from the Bode-Museum in Berlin in 2017.

The series is the second collaborative work between Marvin Kren, Frederick Lau, and Kida Khodr Ramadan following the 2017 series '4 Blocks'.

Filming took place in Berlin, Vienna, and Marseille; principal photography began in April 2022 and was completed in August 2022.

Filming for the second season took place in 2025 in Georgia, Thailand, and Vienna.

A German-language version specifically for Germany was produced in addition to the Austrian version.

The first episode of the series is dedicated to the memory of actor Karl Welunschek, who passed away in April 2023.

In the first half of 2024, the first season recorded a total of 15.7 million views, placing it second among series content in the DACH region after 'Das Signal'.

The series received a nomination in the 'Best Editing Management' category at the 2024 Deutscher Fernsehpreis and Marvin Kren was awarded at the Blauer Panther – TV & Streaming Award 2024 as creator and showrunner; it also won the 'Best Series' award at the 2025 Romy Awards.