Based on Thomas Engström’s best-selling series of books, the Swedish-German series WEST OF LIBERTY, stars three time German Television Award nominee and one time winner Wotan Wilke Möhring, “Dunkirk’s” Mathew Marsh, “Babylon Berlin’s” Lars Eidinger and “Darling” lead Michelle Meadows.
Sold by ITV Studios Global Entertainment, the series’ six episodes turn on Ludwig Licht (Wotan Wilke Möhring), a former famous double agent for the Stasi and CIA during East German times, who now runs a bar in Berlin. Contacted by his former bosses, he begins working on the case of a corrupt whistle-blower at the fictional website Hydraleaks. Lucien Gell (Lard Eidinger), the antagonist, appears loosely based on Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, and is accused of killing three Americans in Marrakesh. Licht uncovers that Gell possible hides in the Syrian embassy.
Directed by Barbara Eder, the series was co-created by Sara Heldt and Gunnar Carlsson, with Heldt co-writing alongside Donna Sharpe and was mostly shot in West Germany and Malmö.
The right mix of action, thriller and relevant world politics is thanks to Sara Heldt and Donna Sharpe’s scripts, as well as the direction of Barbara Eder. In several moments, the show mixes fiction with reality. ‘West of Liberty’ manages to take today’s complexity of geopolitical shifts in power and the difficult balance of betrayal versus loyalty serious and thus provides the audience with a hunger for more background information.
The international version of WEST OF LIBERTY (split into 6 episodes of 45 minutes) is available to stream now on ZDF and will be on German TV on ZDF as a two-part film on the 24th and 25th of November at 22.15.