Next month, Emilie Dumay and Aurelien Leturgie’s new series, Gunther’s Millions, premieres on Netflix. The docuseries concerns a German shepherd named Gunther, who supposedly inherited $400 million from a mysterious countess. The story gets a bit more complicated than that with a colorful spread laid out by the project that exposes the real story behind this cute description.

With its upcoming run of four one-hour episodes, Gunther’s Millions will join the ranks of Tiger King, The Tinder Swindler, The Making of a Murderer, and many other noted Netflix-produced investigative documentary miniseries. However, its dog-gets-rich scenario makes it appear to be a much lighter and more humorous offering than usual for the popular streaming service.

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Here’s everything we know about Gunther’s Millions.

Gunther’s Millions: The Plot

The trailer for Gunther’s Millions features a voice-over from an unidentified woman who says, “What would you think if I told you a story about a very wealthy countess? When she died she gave everything to her dog Gunther. You’re talking about a dog that’s worth $400 million. It’s a true story, I work for the dog.” But while Gunther enjoys the high life with the spoils of private jets, lavish caviar dinners, pampering by servants, and living at a Miami mansion formerly owned by Madonna, something sinister appeared to lurk behind the luxuries.

As Netflix tells it in its press release for the miniseries, “For the last three decades, the dog’s riches have been built into a vast empire across two continents, including luxurious mansions, a glamorous entourage, and even a pop music group, but as any good pup can tell you, it’s always worth digging a little deeper.”

A figure that stands out in Gunther’s life is Italian entrepreneur and pharmaceutical heir Maurizio Mian, who appears to be at the heart of the hoax about the dog’s winnings, the cult-like atmosphere that surrounds the dog’s filthy rich lifestyle, and some secret scientific operation that could possibly be cloning the dog to keep the outrageous ruse afloat. In addition to Mian, the most prominent name in the miniseries would have to be German countess Karlotta Leibenstein, who, as the story goes, passed in 1992, leaving her $80 million fortune to her dog, Gunther. Investments over the years by Mian are supposedly how the net became worth around $400 million, but the investigative docuseries looks like it might deflate these pronouncements. Then the succession of dogs over the decades makes the water murkier.

According to the one-minute and 30-second trailer, Gunther IV inherited his fortune from his grandfather, Gunther III, who also inherited it from a Countess Leibenstein. It is reported that Leibenstein did not have any close relatives or children of her own, and this is why she included her German Shepherd in her will.

In a sit-down interview in the docuseries, the mysterious Mian says that the dogs are supported by the multi-million dollar trust that was left behind by Liebenstein, but there is no evidence pointing to the life of an actual Karlotta Liebenstein in history. In 1995, Mian also told an Italian newspaper that he invented the identity of the countess “to publicize the philosophy of his foundation.”

Gunther’s Millions looks to intrigue and tantalize viewers with its expose of an empire surrounding the probably oblivious German shepherd with its breakdown of the opulence gone mad involving shady real estate deals, shocking social experiments, and one of the biggest tax fraud schemes in American history.

Gunther’s Millions: The Crew

     Netflix

The minds behind the upcoming Gunther’s Millions miniseries are industry television veterans Emilie Dumay, and Aurelien Leturgie. This is their first project together. Dumay is a writer, producer, and former crew member whose credits include many series including Planet Primetime, Expedition Unknown, Golden: The Journey of USA’s Elite Gymnasts, The Amazing Race, and Bye Nye Saves the World.

Executive producer and writer Leturgie also has many television credits including work on the series Shark Week and Little People Big World, but has primarily done duties for television specials such as Dubai VIP, Monaco VIP, Allô Nabilla, and Black in the Saddle.

Finally, there is Gunther, who is actually worth more than Taylor Swift’s cat, whose net worth is $97 million. According to All About Cats, Gunther is the richest pet in the world, followed by Nala Cat with a net worth of $300 million, and Swift’s cat, Olivia Benson.

Release Date

The four-episode run of Gunther’s Millions drops on Netflix on February 1. The running time is approximately four hours, as each episode is around 60 minutes long. So far, no episode titles have been released. The Netflix model is to release all of its series episodes, instead of dolling them out one by one each week, so its audience can choose to watch separately or they can binge the entire show like so many people do these days.