''Deutschland 86'' () is a 2018 German television series starring

Jonas Nay Jonas Nay (, born 20 September 1990) is a German actor and musician known for starring as Martin Rauch in ''Deutschland 83'' and its sequels, ''Deutschland 86'' and ''Deutschland 89''. Early life Jonas Nay was born in Lübeck in 1990 days be ...

as an agent of

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

in 1986, in relation to the

Angolan Civil War The Angolan Civil War ( pt, Guerra Civil Angolana) was a civil war in Angola, beginning in 1975 and continuing, with interludes, until 2002. The war immediately began after Angola became independent from Portugal in November 1975. The war was ...

. It is a sequel to the 2015 series ''

Deutschland 83 ''Deutschland 83'' is a 2015 German television series starring Jonas Nay as a 24-year-old native of East Germany who, in 1983, is sent to West Germany as an undercover spy for the HVA, the foreign intelligence agency of the Stasi. It is a co ...

'' and precedes the 2020 series ''

Deutschland 89 ''Deutschland 89'' is a German television series, starring Jonas Nay as Martin Rauch, an agent of East Germany following the Fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. It is a sequel to the 2015 series ''Deutschland 83'', and 2018 series ''Deutschland 86 ...

''.

Cast

Main

as Martin Rauch, a former border patrol guard from

who went undercover in 1983 in

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

, an operation which prevented a

pre-emptive nuclear strike In nuclear strategy, a first strike or preemptive strike is a preemptive surprise attack employing overwhelming force. First strike capability is a country's ability to defeat another nuclear power by destroying its arsenal to the point where t ...

by the Soviets against NATO but forced him to go into hiding. *

Maria Schrader Maria Schrader (born 27 September 1965) is a German actress, screenwriter, and director. She directed the award-winning 2007 film ''Love Life'' and the 2020 Netflix miniseries '' Unorthodox'', for which she won the Primetime Emmy Award for O ...

as Lenora Rauch, Martin's aunt and former handler for the Stasi, now operating in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

. *

Florence Kasumba Florence Kasumba (born 26 October 1976) is a Ugandan-born German actress. She is best known for her portrayal of Ayo in the Marvel Cinematic Universe films '' Captain America: Civil War'' (2016), ''Black Panther'' (2018), '' Avengers: Infinit ...

as Rose Seithathi, an African National Congress (ANC) operative working with Lenora. * Sylvester Groth as Walter Schweppenstette, Lenora's former boss at the East German Permanent Mission (StäV), and Martin's anonymous father, who has been demoted after the 1983 incident. *

Sonja Gerhardt Sonja Gerhardt (born 2 April 1989) is a German film and television actress. She is best known for her roles in the television series ''Schmetterlinge im Bauch'' and ''Deutschland 83'', and the upcoming action- horror film '' Paranormal Activity: ...

as Annett Schneider, Martin's former fiancée who is now a junior intelligence agent in the inner circle of the East German StäV. *

Lavinia Wilson Lavinia Wilson (born 8 March 1980) is a German actress. She has appeared in more than sixty films since 1992. Selected filmography References External links * * 1980 births Living people German film actresses {{Germany-actor- ...

as Brigitte Winkelmann, dentist wife of the West German Trade Commissioner and a West German Intelligence Service (BND) officer. * Ludwig Trepte as Alex Edel, a gay West German who served as Oberleutnant in the military with Martin in ''

'' before being dismissed. Now works in an AIDS hospice with Tim. *

Alexander Beyer Alexander Beyer (born 24 June 1973) is a German actor. He was born in Erfurt, East Germany. He has appeared in such films as Volker Schloendorff's ''The Legend of Rita'' (''Die Stille nach dem Schuss'', 1999), Leander Haußmann's ''Sun Alley'' ...

as Tobias Tischbier, Martin's former handler from the Stasi's foreign arm, the

Main Directorate for Reconnaissance The Main Directorate for Reconnaissance (german: ; german: , ) was the foreign intelligence service of the Ministry of State Security (''Stasi''), the main security agency of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany), from 1955 to 1990. ...

(HVA), who is now a member of

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

for the Alternative Party. *

Fritzi Haberlandt Fritzi Haberlandt (born 6 June 1975, in East Berlin) is a German actress. She studied theatre at the Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts. Early in her career, she played the role of Lucile Duplessis in '' Danton's Death'', with the Berliner En ...

as Tina Fischer, an East German doctor whose novelist brother, Thomas Posimski, defected to West Germany. * Chris Veres as Tim, a

closeted gay ''Closeted'' and ''in the closet'' are metaphors for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender and other (LGBTQ+) people who have not disclosed their sexual orientation or gender identity and aspects thereof, including sexual orientation identity ...

American

G.I. G.I. are initials used to describe the soldiers of the United States Army and airmen of the United States Air Force and general items of their equipment. The term G.I. has been used as an initialism of "Government Issue", "General Issue", or " ...

who works with Alex at an AIDS hospice.

Recurring

* Vladimir Burlakov as Thomas Posimski, Annett's former lover and Tina's brother. * Anke Engelke as Barbara Dietrich, a new financial consultant to the StäV. * Uwe Preuss as Markus Fuchs, Walter's associate who was promoted to Walter's position at the StäV. *

Carina Wiese Carina Nicolette Wiese (born 26 February 1968) is a German actress. Personal life and career Wiese was born in Dresden, East Germany, where she went to school and began acting at a youth theatre in Pirna from a young age. She completed an app ...

as Ingrid Rauch, Martin's mother * Michaela Caspar as Mrs. Netz, the former secretary to Alex's father in the

Bundeswehr The ''Bundeswehr'' (, meaning literally: ''Federal Defence'') is the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. The ''Bundeswehr'' is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part con ...

, now working as an agent for the BND. *

Jonathan Pienaar Jonathan Pienaar (born 16 September 1962) is a South African writer, actor, voice-over artist and comedian who has been active for over 20 years. He has appeared in both South African and international films and television shows including ''Ski ...

as Gary Banks, a South African mercenary, hired by Lenora and Martin. *

Philipp Hochmair Philipp Hochmair (German: �fɪǀɪp ˈhoːxmɑɪɐ; born 16 October 1973) is an Austrian theater, film and television actor. Early life Hochmair grew up in Vienna (Austria) where he discovered his passion for literature, film and theater. ...

as Frank Winkelmann, the husband of Brigitte Winkelmann.

Episodes

There are 10 episodes. In addition, a documentary entitled "Comrades and Cash" was produced to accompany the series. Narrated by Nay, it describes various business activities undertaken by the East German state to earn hard currency, including: the sale of arms by the East German state to the apartheid government of South Africa, their notional enemies; smuggling arms to both sides in the Iran-Iraq war; forced labor in prisons; appropriating antiques and safe-deposit-box contents from its citizens and selling them abroad; selling blood abroad without testing it for

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...

Broadcast

''Deutschland 86'' first aired in Germany on Amazon Prime on 19 October 2018. The series premiered in Australia on Stan on 22 October 2018, and in the United States on 25 October 2018 on

SundanceTV Sundance TV (formerly known as Sundance Channel) is an American pay television channel owned by AMC Networks that launched on February 1, 1996. The channel is named after Robert Redford's character in ''Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'' and, w ...

. It aired in the UK on

More4 More4 is a British free-to-air television channel, owned by Channel Four Television Corporation. The channel launched on 10 October 2005. Its programming mainly focuses on lifestyle and documentaries, as well as foreign dramas. Content When ...

starting on 8 March 2019 and the boxset was released on Walter Presents on

All 4 All 4 is a video on demand service from the Channel Four Television Corporation, free of charge for most content and funded by advertising. The service is available in the UK and Ireland; viewers are not required to have a TV licence—requir ...

directly after its transmission.

Production

In August 2017, filming began in Cape Town, South Africa, with the majority of the returning cast from ''

'' and five new cast members being confirmed, and concluded there in October before returning to Berlin. On 18 December 2017, both star

and co-creator

Anna Winger Anna Winger (née LeVine; born 1970) is an American writer, producer, screenwriter, and photographer who lives in Berlin, Germany. She is creator of the television dramas ''Deutschland 83,'' ''Deutschland 86,'' ''Deutschland 89,'' and '' Unorthod ...

confirmed on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

that it was the final day of filming on the series with filming wrapping four days later. New cast member Chris Veres was promoted to series regular in November 2017. On 26 July 2018, Nay revealed the German premiere date on Instagram. Two days later, the US premiere date was revealed on the show's official

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

and Instagram accounts.

Reception

The Guardian described the series as "geopolitically fascinating".

References

External links

* {{Sundance Shows German-language television shows 2018 German television series debuts Angolan Civil War in fiction RTL (German TV channel) original programming Television series set in 1986 Television series about the Cold War Television shows set in Germany Espionage television series 1986 in Germany Television series set in East Germany Works about West Germany Works about the Stasi German drama television series