Deutschland 89 Exclusive First Trailer: Martin Must Choose a Side as the Berlin Wall Crumbles
Photos Courtesy of Sundance TV
For fans of The Americans who are missing a show that delves into the other side of Cold War loyalties, don’t sleep on Deutschland.
As I wrote in our list of the most anticipated series for fall, this German series (airing in the US on Sundance TV) is “a riveting, colorful Cold War tale that starts in 83 following a young East German patrol guard who gets recruited to work undercover in West Germany by his aunt Lenora (Emmy-winner Maria Schrader). As Martin / Mortiz, star Jonas Nay is incredibly charming, able to meaningfully convey the constant confusion of being pulled between two Germanys and two systems of government while unsure who is ultimately right. Beautifully shot with some of the tensest, most anxiety-inducing scenes since The Americans, the series’ lead-up to Abel Archer will leave you sweating—nevermind what it does to poor Martin. But he returns, stronger and less naive, in the sequel Deutschland 86, which moves the story to where the East German state is providing weapons to the apartheid government of South Africa. More politically complicated and perhaps more action-packed rather than focused on Martin’s personal problems as an undercover agent, 86 expands the story in important ways, while preparing for the final installment of the trilogy, 89 (the fall of the Berlin Wall), very soon. Plus, it has one of TV’s best title sequences, set to Peter Schilling’s “Major Tom (Coming Home).”
That “very soon” is now! Well, almost. In the third and last season of the series created by Anna Winger and Jörg Winger, Martin will have to choose sides: CIA or KGB? Maybe both?