The first original German-language drama to broadcast on a U.S. TV network is officially coming back. SundanceTV and FremantleMedia International said today there will be a second season of Deutschland 83, the Peabody Award-wining Cold War-set series created by Anna Winger and Jörg Winger. The eight-episode Season 2, which will be known as Deutschland 86, will debut on SundanceTV in 2018. The first season premiered on SundanceTV on June 17, 2015.
Now to be known as Deutschland 86, the new episodes will pick up three years after Season 1 with Jonas Nay’s East German Agent Martin Rauch on the frontlines of the battle between the Ronald Reagan-led West and the Soviet Empire. With proxy states in Africa as the backdrop in what we now know were the final years of the Cold War, the Stasi agent ends up in the Johannesburg of the Apartheid-ruled South Africa, the Tripoli of Col. Gadhafi’s Libya, Paris, and both Berlins.
“Deutschland 83 is a key example of the terrific, entertaining content Sundance TV has collaborated on with creative voices from around the world,” Joel Stillerman, president of original programming and development for AMC and SundanceTV, said in a statement. “Anna and Joerg Winger did an incredible job taking well-known historical events and framing them with a unique lens in the first season. We know that they will offer a fresh perspective to the events in Germany in 1986 and are thrilled to join them on their journey back in time.”
A production of UFA Fiction with Amazon, FremantleMedia International and UFA Distribution, Deutschland 86 is produced by Jörg Winger, Sebastian Werninger, and Ulrike Leibfried, with Anna Winger as head writer.
Production on the new season is set to start in 2017 – proving the Cold War is still hot.