Deutschland 86


Deutschland 86 is a 2018 German spy thriller television series starring Jonas Nay as an agent of East Germany in 1986, in relation to the Angolan Civil War.
It is a sequel to the 2015 series Deutschland 83 and precedes the 2020 series Deutschland 89.

Cast

Main

Recurring

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.

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. It aired in the UK on More4 starting on 8 March 2019 and the boxset was released on Walter Presents on All 4 directly after its transmission.

Production

In August 2017, filming began in Cape Town, South Africa, with the majority of the returning cast from Deutschland 83 and five new cast members being confirmed, and concluded there in October before returning to Berlin. On 18 December 2017, both star Jonas Nay and co-creator Anna Winger confirmed on Twitter 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 and Instagram accounts.

Reception

100% of 12 critics' reviews are positive. The website's consensus reads: "Deutschland 86 is a rollicking spy caper that leverages its chic 1980s aesthetic to addictive effect -- proving both pleasurably suspenseful and empathetic to the point-of-view behind the Iron Curtain."