Arcadia (TV series)

Lore & Background

The story follows the Hendriks family after father Pieter Hendriks, director of the Algorithm Service, is caught cheating on his daughters' citizen scores and banished to the perilous Outer World. His wife and four daughters are fined with penalty points, causing their idyllic lives to fall apart. Regulator Marco Simons of the Shield persists in investigating the family, while Revisor Lena Harms of the Oversight pressures them to spy on Jaak Philips, a Lord of the Dome suspected of terrorism. The resistance group de Ontrouwen (The Unfaithful) conducts its own investigation into a past terrorist attack on the Dome.

The series was originally called Decimation, inspired by the Chinese social credit system and the Stasi secret service. A 1980s retro-futuristic style was chosen for the setting, with a large set built in LITES studios in Vilvoorde and outdoor shooting in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, and France. Filming took six months during the corona pandemic, which limited extras but helped create a desolate atmosphere.

Financing came from Belgian and Dutch production houses, public broadcasters VRT and NPO 3 (KRO-NCRV), German public broadcasters WDR and SWR (ARD), and the Flemish Audiovisual Fund (VAF). Netflix and a French public broadcaster were interested but their demands were insurmountable. The first two episodes premiered at the Ostend Film Festival on 3 February 2023, and the eight-part series aired weekly from 19 March 2023. A second season was released on January 19, 2025.

Reader's Guide

Arcadia is significant as the most expensive television project ever in the Low Countries, with a budget of 1 million euros per episode. It represents a major co-production between Belgian and Dutch public broadcasters, with additional German support, showcasing cross-border collaboration in European television. The series explores themes of surveillance, social credit systems, and family loyalty under a dystopian regime, drawing direct inspiration from the Chinese social credit system and the Stasi. Its retro-futuristic aesthetic, using 1980s design and brutalism architecture, sets it apart from typical high-tech sci-fi. The production faced challenges from the corona pandemic, which inadvertently enhanced the desolate atmosphere. The series' simultaneous release on streaming platforms and television in multiple countries reflects changing distribution models. Its legacy includes demonstrating that ambitious, high-budget genre television can be produced outside the major international streaming services, despite Netflix's interest being declined due to demands for global rights.

Did You Know?

• The series was originally called Decimation before being renamed Arcadia.
• The uniforms of the security agency the Shield were adapted from flight suits to save costs.
• The series was filmed during the corona pandemic, which limited the use of extras.

The Architecture of Control

Arcadia presents a post-flood world where Flemish and Dutch populations coexist under a single utopian banner, yet beneath the surface lies a tightly surveilled dystopia. Every resident carries an implanted chip monitored by two parallel security apparatuses: het Schild (the Shield) and het Vizier (the Oversight). Governance rests with the Lords of the Dome, led by a figure known as the Guardian. Social standing is quantified through a citizen-points system, rewarding faithful Arcadians with privileges while penalizing transgressions. Crime appears virtually impossible under such total observation, yet the series quickly reveals that corruption, resistance, and old wounds persist. The resistance group de Ontrouwen (The Unfaithful) operates in the shadows, and a past terrorist attack on the Dome casts a long shadow over the present. This layered political structure gives the show its distinctive tension: a society that appears harmonious on the surface but is held together by surveillance, scoring, and the quiet threat of banishment to the lawless Outer World.

The Hendriks Fracture

The narrative engine of Arcadia is the unraveling of one blended family. Pieter Hendriks, a director at the Algorithm Service and grandson of the system's founder, manipulates the citizen-score algorithm to secure a comfortable life for his four daughters. When Regulator Simons of the Shield uncovers the fraud, Pieter is immediately exiled to the dangerous Outer World, while his wife Cato and the girls are struck with penalty points that cascade through their daily lives. The eldest, Milly, a Shield police soldier on the verge of promotion, is demoted to corporal and driven by the desire to locate her father in the perilous exterior. Luz, her autistic younger sister, struggles to adapt to a world suddenly stripped of stability. Cato's two daughters from a previous marriage, Alex and Hanna, each process the punishment differently—Alex with righteous fury at being penalized for an innocent crime, Hanna with frustration at being unable to treat hospital patients whose scores are too low. Revisor Harms of the Oversight compounds the family's crisis by pressuring them into assisting her investigation into the Unfaithful and a past terrorist attack, turning the household into a contested battleground between competing state interests.

A Record-Breaking Co-Production

Arcadia is widely regarded as the most expensive television project ever mounted in the Low Countries, a claim underpinned by a per-episode budget of one million euros across its eight episodes. The series is a joint Belgian-Dutch venture spearheaded by Jonnydepony, with screenwriter Philippe De Schepper and producer Helen Perquy at the helm. Perquy assembled a financing consortium that included the Dutch production house Big Blue, Belgium's VRT, the Netherlands' NPO 3 (KRO-NCRV), Germany's public broadcasters WDR and SWR (ARD), and the Flemish Audiovisual Fund. Notably, the project turned down other potential co-financiers whose conditions proved incompatible with the creative vision: Netflix demanded global broadcasting rights, while a French public broadcaster insisted on casting French actors. Production commenced in early 2019, and the six-month shoot took place during the coronavirus pandemic, which imposed strict limits on extras and crew but inadvertently lent the world of Arcadia a desolate, sparse atmosphere. Filming spanned Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, and France, with indoor work concentrated at the LITES studios in Vilvoorde.

From Decimation to Retro-Futurism

The series did not always carry the name Arcadia. Philippe De Schepper's original concept, titled Decimation, envisioned a wretched society born of overpopulation that sought refuge in inhuman solutions. Working with co-screenwriter Bas Adriaensen, De Schepper drew on two distinct real-world inspirations: China's social credit system, where points govern privileges such as international travel, and the Stasi, the East German secret police that recruited ordinary citizens to spy on neighbors, friends, and family. Merging these threads produced a controlled society governed by a trade-off scoring system, with the story narrowed to a single family whose fraud unravels their world. The visual language deliberately rejected sleek, gadget-heavy futurism in favor of a 1980s retro-futuristic aesthetic. A massive set was constructed at the LITES studios in Vilvoorde, including the Shield's headquarters, while exterior shots leveraged existing brutalist concrete architecture. Oldtimers, including a purchased Bentley, were restyled to appear futuristic. To manage costs, the costume department repurposed flight suits as the Shield's uniforms rather than commissioning new ones.