The German drama series Deutschland 83, which gained a global cult following, returns for a new season set three years later. Undercover spy Martin Rauch, who's been banished to Africa, is called back to the field.
Image: UFA Fiction/A. Molnár
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Jonas Nay in conversation: Deutschland 86
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It is 1986 and communism is crumbling. The German Democratic Republic (GDR), or East Germany, is going broke, while across the Soviet Union, there's talk of major reforms, with Soviet President Gorbachev's policies of glasnost and perestroika.
After being banished to Angola following a botched mission to West Germany, undercover spy Martin Rauch — played by Jonas Nay — is called back to work with his Aunt Lenora (Maria Schrader), a top official at the East German foreign intelligence agency (HVA).
The GDR government is desperate for foreign currency to prop up its ailing economy. So the agency tasks Rauch — codename: Kolibri (hummingbird) — with selling weapons to apartheid-dominated South Africa, which have ironically been manufactured in West Germany.
And so begins Deutschland 86, the much-awaited sequel to the German-American spy drama Deutschland 83.
The first series kept die-hard Cold War-era fans gripped when it was first screened around the world two years ago. In Germany, the show's popularity grew during its run and it was labeled a sleeper hit.
Set on two continents
Set three years after the original, Deutschland 86 focuses as much on resistance and oppression in Africa as on events behind the Iron Curtain, where change is afoot.
The new storylines were something of a revelation for lead actor Nay, who was born in 1990, a year after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
"They (the GDR government) tried in every way imaginable to get money into this bankrupt state. There were so many things happening, like illegal weapons deals and pharmaceutical or medical experiments, and they were things I've never heard of before," he told DW.
'Dark' and other German TV series to watch worldwide
'Dark' was Netflix's first German-language production; here are more German series that have reached an international audience.
Image: Netflix
Netflix German series 'Dark'
The first German language TV series produced by Netflix for the international market, "Dark" was released on December 1, 2017. The first season consists of 10 episodes and tells the story of four families living in a small German town. The disappearance of two young children in surrounding forest leads to investigations revealing that something shady has been happening there since the 1980s.
Image: Netflix
Dark worlds
The series was directed by Baran bo Odar and his wife, Jantje Friese, wrote the screenplay. The Swiss director filmed a similar story with the 2010 feature film, "The Silence," another thriller that interconnects two generations of a family in a small provincial German town. As the title suggests, his latest offering is a lot darker and claustrophobic.
Image: Netflix
Ambitious production: 'Babylon Berlin'
The most expensive non-English drama series ever produced, "Babylon Berlin" started airing in Germany last October. Netflix purchased broadcast rights for the US. Three directors, including Tom Tykwer, recreated the atmosphere of Berlin in the 1920s for this period drama.
Image: 2017 X Filme/Frédéric Batier
Amazon's German series 'You Are Wanted'
The first German series to be produced by Amazon, "You Are Wanted" started airing in March 2017 and was also made available worldwide through the Amazon Prime streaming service. It was directed by Matthias Schweighöfer, who also plays the lead role in this series dealing with cyber crime. Despite dividing the critics, the show's second season is already in production.
Image: picture alliance / Stephan Rabold/Amazon/dpa
A sequel for 'Deutschland 83'
Broadcast on SundanceTV, "Deutschland 83" was the first German-language series to air on a US network with English subtitles. The show obtained a number of accolades, including an International Emmy Award. The second season of this Cold War spy thriller, titled "Deutschland 86," has just been released on Amazon Prime.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/R. Hirschberger
Berlin mafia: '4 Blocks'
"4 Blocks," directed by Marvin Kren, is set in the Berlin district of Neukölln and is centered on different organized crime family clans. The series obtained rave reviews, with some critics comparing it to the US TV hit "The Sopranos." Since October 2017, it is available in over 150 countries on Amazon Video. A second season is in the making.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Handout/2017 Turner Broadcasting System Europe Limited & Wiedemann & Berg Television GmbH & Co.
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His character, Rauch, is on a mission to save East Germany from destruction, which takes him to Tripoli, Paris, West Berlin and beyond.
Having experienced so many traumatic events during the first season, Rauch is conflicted between a need for space and a desire to return home.
"[In season one] he killed a man, and had to bury a woman he loved, in the forest — really, really heavy stuff — and that changed him a lot," explained Nay, in an interview with DW's Inside Europe radio show.
"At the same time, he also has a 3-year-old son living in East Berlin with his ex-girlfriend, who he's never seen."
Florence Kasumba (center) plays Rose Seithathi, a revolutionary African National Congress operative in Deutschland 86Image: 2018 Amazon.com Inc.
Season 2 promises more shadowy and dangerous missions for Rauch, against the backdrop of perestroika, dirty proxy wars, the fight against apartheid and a year of terrorism in Western Europe.
Filmed in South Africa
Nay promised that Deutschland 86 will have "a lot of crazy scenes," half of which were filmed in Cape Town, South Africa.
"One sequence that I really love was shot in the dunes of Cape Town. It's like a desert but only for a few kilometers. But you're driving 4 x 4 vehicles into the dunes and you feel like you're in the Libyan Desert."
Fans of Deutschland 83 praised the way early 80s hits were creatively weaved into the story, including from Nena, Blondie, Duran Duran. The show's theme tune — Peter Schilling's "Major Tom" — also helped it become instantly identifiable.
Season 2, similarly, features much-loved tunes from the mid-80s, namely by Talk Talk, Falco, Salt n' Pepa and the Talking Heads.
"Music always has the ability to transport you to a [specific] time really, really fast. For viewers, if you hear a certain type of song, you can paint your own picture, and get back a very personal feeling that you had back then," Nay said.
Deutschland 86 premieres on Amazon Prime in Germany on October 19, and on SundanceTV in the US on October 25.
The second series is due to air in several other countries in early 2019.
The writers have, meanwhile, promised that a third season, Deutschland 89, will be produced, from the year the Berlin Wall fell.
A key year in the Cold War: 'Deutschland 83'
First shown in the US, the German TV series "Deutschland 83" deals with the role played by Germany during the Cold War - and the personal story of a young spy. It has now been named best drama by the International Emmys.
Image: RTL/N. Konietzny
Cold War thriller
"Deutschland 83" tells the story of the young East German sergeant Martin Rauch (Jonas Nay, pictured left) who infiltrates the West German army as an undercover spy in 1983. The series of eight one-hour episodes reveals a classic secret agent thriller - and a tremendously exciting one.
Image: RTL/N. Konietzny
Recruitment phase
The story starts out in East Germany at the beginning of the 1980s. Martin's aunt Lenora Rauch (Maria Schrader), who works for the East and lives in the West, is asked to convince her nephew to work as a secret agent.
Image: RTL/N. Konietzny
Explosive times
The backdrop of "Deutschland 83" is the volatile geopolitical context of the early 1980s. The arms race between the US and the Soviet Union at the height of the Cold War adds tension to the plot. In the West German army, Martin Rauch uses the alias of Moritz Stamm.
Image: RTL/N. Konietzny
Snapshot of West Germany
The concept of the series was developed by American author Anna Winger and her husband, German producer Jörg Winger. Four authors collaborated on the screenplay, and the series was directed by Edward Berger and Samira Radsi. The picture above shows a scene with peace movement protesters, another factor in Germany's politically tense atmosphere in 1983.
Image: RTL/N. Konietzny
Nuclear strategies
With US missiles then stationed in West Germany, the country served as the battleground of the Cold War between America and the Soviet Union. In "Deutschland 83," General Wolfgang Edel (Ulrich Noethen) is the direct supervisor of Moritz Stamm. He works closely with the Americans.
Image: RTL/N. Konietzny
Behind the political scenes
"Deutschland 83" gives insight on life behind the scenes in the West German army and with NATO. Here General Edel (Ulrich Noethen, left) and US General Jackson (Errol T. Harewood, right) discuss the next step in the arms race. The NATO maneuver "Able Archer" was perceived as a direct Soviet threat.
Image: RTL/N. Konietzny
On the brink of World War III
The world feared a military confrontation between the world's superpowers. The US and the USSR - and their respective military alliances - held maneuvers to demonstrate their readiness for war. It was a highly volatile situation.
Image: RTL/N. Konietzny
Shedding new light on the Cold War
The television series "Deutschland 83" won the prestigious best drama award at the International Emmys. The Cold War is a popular topic among US viewers. The 2006 German movie "The Lives of Others" was highly successful and won an Oscar. Steven Spielberg's recent film, "Bridge of Spies," is also set in Cold War Germany.
