Amazon Studios’ suspenseful new thriller is…German?! The latest offering from the online giant’s lineup of original programming is You Are Wanted. The series features German movie star Matthias Schweighöfer struggling against a faceless cyber foe that has hacked his mobile devices and is causing chaos in his life: both personally and professionally. What’s more, the series is in the German language and is available outside of Germany.
German Language Comes to English Speaking Viewers
Perhaps we all should have seen it coming after the recent success of Deutschland 83. But to have a German-language series on a mainstream United States or United Kingdom television channel or online video streaming service is somewhat unthinkable. Deutschland 83, while available on Hulu, has been relegated to the SundanceTV in the States. One could argue that Amazon’s original programming isn’t quite mainstream. But it’s certainly getting there. Just ask Gael Garcia Bernal of Mozart in the Jungle or Jeffrey Tambor of Transparent. Both actors have won major awards for their performances on their respective Amazon show.
About You Are Wanted
In the six-part series, Schweighöfer portrays Lukas, a 36-year-old working in a hotel in Berlin. When the German capital city experiences a city-wide electrical outage on his birthday, his devices become infected. Lukas is quickly suspected to be apart of a hacker group accused of being responsible for cutting the power. He attempts to clear things up, however, things just get worse and worse. Lukas is suddenly a terrorist — or so the police seem to think. The individual or individuals begin blackmailing him deeper and deeper into the underworld. He tries to clear his name while protecting his wife and their young son.
You Are Wanted is fascinating. The show offers a thoughtful and thought-provoking comment on our current society. Internet-connected devices are now so pervasive that we take them for granted. Sometimes we fail to see just how much we are sharing with people we don’t know are there. The Internet of Things is exposing us to those who mean us harm and to those we think are protecting us. And it’s a discussion worth having.
In addition to Schweighöfer – who stars, directs, produces and even scores the series – the show boasts some familiar German-speaking faces. Alexandra Maria Lara portrays Lukas’ supportive but confused wife Hanna, Karoline Herfurth appears as a bad ass leather-clad Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Lisbeth Salander-like hacker, and Tom Beck portrays Hanna’s boss Marc. Actress and journalist Katrin Bauerfeind makes a brief appearance as does model-turned-actress Toni Garrn.
Season 2
The six episode series is been available since March but it will be back! A second season of the show is already in the works.
Stream You Are Wanted now on Amazon Prime Video in German with English subtitles.
Practice practice practice! Discover other great German language actors and actresses previously featured.
This post contains affiliate links. Photo by Stephan Rabold Amazon Studios Pantaleon Films Warner.
