General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

Pitch Perfect: Bumper in Berlin

Pitch Perfect: Bumper in Berlin is an American musical comedy television series spun off from the Pitch Perfect films, in which Bumper Allen relocates to Germany to restart his music career once one of his songs turns into a major hit in Berlin.¹ Adam Devine reprises his role as Bumper from the first two films, and the series was produced by Universal Television, filmed in Berlin in 2022 in co-production with Studio Babelsberg, and premiered on Peacock in the United States on November 23, 2022.¹

Key fact	Detail
Premise	A decade after college, former a cappella star Bumper Allen leaves his job as a security guard and moves to Berlin to pursue his musical dreams after one of his songs becomes a hit there²
Run	One season of six episodes, all released on Peacock on November 23, 2022; episodes run roughly 27 to 31 minutes³^•²
Cast	Adam Devine as Bumper Allen, Flula Borg as Pieter Krämer, Sarah Hyland as Heidi, Jameela Jamil as Gisela, and Lera Abova as Thea, also known as DJ Das Boot⁴
Production	Filmed in 2022 in Berlin and Brandenburg, Germany, in co-production with Studio Babelsberg¹
Showrunner	Megan Amram, with Elizabeth Banks, Max Handelman, Paul Brooks, and Adam Devine among the producers⁵^•⁶
Renewal and cancellation	Renewed for a second season in January 2023; Peacock reversed the renewal on September 22, 2023, amid the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes⁴
Economic impact	Season 1 production contributed over EUR 31 million to Germany's GDP and created 700 local jobs, per an Oxford Economics study commissioned by the Motion Picture Association¹

Spoilers

Premise and characters

The series is set about ten years after the events of the films. Bumper Allen, once the leader of the Barden University a cappella group the Treblemakers, works as a security guard at his alma mater and sings a cappella as a hobby with the Tonehangers.²^•⁷ When one of his old songs becomes a hit in Berlin, he moves to Germany to restart his music career.¹

In Berlin he crosses paths with Pieter Krämer, played by Flula Borg, who competed against the Barden Bellas as a member of Das Sound Machine in 2015's Pitch Perfect 2; Borg reprises that role.⁸ The two former rivals work together to launch Bumper's solo career.⁴ The rest of the main cast includes Sarah Hyland as Heidi, Jameela Jamil as Gisela, and Lera Abova as Thea, also known as DJ Das Boot.⁴

The season's six episodes carry German titles: "Backpfeifengesicht," "Torschlusspanik," "Verschlimmbessern," "Streicheleinheit," "Mutterseelenallein," and "Lebensabschnittspartner."² In the closing episode, Bumper weds Thea, Pieter's sister, which lets him remain in Berlin long enough to take part in the German Unity Day show; Heidi is offered a career-changing chance in Los Angeles; and Pieter weighs getting back together with his former girlfriend Gisela.⁴

Development and production

The idea of expanding the Pitch Perfect franchise into television came from Elizabeth Banks and Max Handelman, who wanted to grow the universe in an offbeat way, in the manner Marvel had approached its television shows.⁹ Banks pitched Devine the idea over Zoom during the pandemic, and he accepted, saying he had never gotten to put a bow on his Pitch Perfect experience the way the female leads had in the third film.⁹ Megan Amram, a writer previously known for Silicon Valley and The Good Place, served as showrunner.⁵

The first season was filmed in 2022 in Berlin and Brandenburg in co-production with Studio Babelsberg.¹ Directors included Richie Keen, Todd Strauss-Schulson, and Maureen Bharoocha.¹⁰ The parent film franchise had grossed nearly $600 million at the worldwide box office.¹¹

Release and cancellation

All six episodes premiered on Peacock on November 23, 2022.³ In Germany, the original version became available on Apple TV, Prime Video, freenet Video, maxdome, and Google Play.¹ Peacock renewed the series for a second season in January 2023, and at the time of the renewal NBCUniversal described it as the streamer's top comedy series to date, though it released no viewing data.¹²

On September 22, 2023, Peacock canceled the series, reversing the Season 2 renewal. According to Deadline, the decision stemmed from production delays caused by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes, which pushed the production schedule so far back that new episodes could not have been finished by the intended release date.⁴^•¹³ It was one of several series, alongside Prime Video's A League of Their Own and The Peripheral, to have a renewal reversed during the work stoppage.¹²

Economic impact in Germany

An independent economic impact assessment by Oxford Economics, commissioned by the Motion Picture Association in cooperation with NBCUniversal and Studio Babelsberg, found that the Season 1 production contributed over EUR 31 million to Germany's GDP. The benefits included almost EUR 27 million in direct production expenditure in Germany, EUR 6.7 million in wages for 700 local full-time and part-time workers, and approximately EUR 20 million spent with more than 650 local businesses, particularly in the Berlin-Brandenburg region. Vendors from 14 of Germany's 16 Länder provided goods or services to the production.¹

Reception and home media

On the review aggregator JustWatch, the series held a score of 52 percent with a user rating of 6.4 from about 1,600 votes.¹⁴ Peacock lists the show with a TV-14 rating and 4K UHD streaming.² The complete first season, with a total run time of 2 hours 56 minutes, was later released on Blu-ray and DVD by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.¹¹

References

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026