Netflix’s My Name is Sarah, the 8-part WWII drama premiering September 25, 2025, has plunged viewers into a vortex of stolen innocence and unyielding resilience, based on the true story of 13-year-old Sara, a Jewish girl forced to hide her identity after her family’s murder, navigating betrayal, secrets, and the fight to stay alive in humanity’s darkest hour. Directed by The Zookeeper’s Wife‘s Niki Caro and penned by The Book Thief‘s Markus Zusak, the series—filmed in Poland’s shadowed forests from January to July 2025—stars newcomer Lila Crawford as Sara, whose “childhood stolen” transforms her into a shadow self, living as a Polish orphan amid the Holocaust’s horrors. “It’s The Book Thief‘s heart with Schindler’s List‘s edge – unshakable, unforgettable,” Caro tells Variety, her visuals amplifying a “gripping” gasp of ghosts and grit.
The saga’s sinister surge? Spellbinding: Episode 1’s “Erased Echo” thrusts Sara into the fray, her family’s Warsaw ghetto raid leaving her fleeing with a forged ID, “someone else” in a convent where nuns harbor horrors and neighbors nurse grudges. Crawford’s Sara? A “masterclass in minimalism,” her wide-eyed wonder warping to weary watchfulness, unraveling a ripple of regrets where a friend’s “kindness” surfaces as sabotage. Co-stars carve the chaos: Rosamund Pike as the “suspicious superior” with a sting, Tom Hollander as the “haunted handler” with a grudge, and Indira Varma as the “calculating” confidant with secrets. Zusak’s script quivers with quips – “Names are chains; forget to survive” – but the “brutal” brutality bites: A botched barn burial buries a body, a VVIP viper’s venom turns ally to assassin.
The “sharper than Shetland”? Seismic: Zusak’s adaptation amps the “pacy” probe with “spooky” soundscapes and “authentic” accents, Caro’s direction a “gripping” gasp of “grim themes” in Poland’s “eerie charm.” The Guardian‘s Lucy Mangan raves “very well-made, pacy drama” with Crawford’s “reliably likeable” levity; The Independent‘s Ed Power hails Pike’s “Icily Glamorous” iciness and the “understated and spooky” score. Evening Standard‘s Vicky Jessop praises the “overall confidence, style and authenticity.” Skeptics? “Mired in misery,” but the 1-in-2 clue-to-cliff ratio hooks, BARB metrics outgunning The Jetty.
This isn’t whodunit wallpaper; it’s a web-weaving whirlwind, My Name is Sarah‘s Sarah a scalpel to the soul where identities invert and innocence inverts. Sara’s survival? Scathing. The secrets’ sting? Sinister. September 25? Not a drop – a deluge. Binge it; the erasures erase, the escapes exhilarate. Crawford’s courage? Captivating. The obsession? Overnight, inescapable.
