Apple TV’s first German-language original series, the dark comedy “Where’s Wanda?,” has demonstrated that authentically local stories can succeed globally, its cast and creative team tell Reuters’ Miranda Murray as the second season continues rolling out.
The series, produced by UFA Fiction, follows the Klatt family in the fictional suburban town of Sundersheim. In season one, which premiered in October 2024, parents Carlotta (Heike Makatsch) and Dedo (Axel Stein) grow desperate after their 17-year-old daughter Wanda (Lea Drinda) vanishes. Frustrated by police progress, they enlist their tech-savvy son Ole (Leo Simon) to obtain surveillance gear and, posing as electrical workers, bug their neighborhood and beyond. They uncover that their neighbors are not what they appear to be.
The show earned strong international reviews, including a rare perfect critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes for its first season, and was renewed.
Season two, which began globally on Apple TV on October 21 with weekly episodes through December 9, raises the stakes: just as the family tries to reclaim normal life, Wanda is found standing over a dead body and becomes the prime suspect. The Klatts must prove her innocence while probing deeper into the town’s criminal underbelly. New cast members include Sam Riley and Alexandra Maria Lara; returning actors include Nikeata Thompson, Palina Rojinski, Devid Striesow, and others.
Makatsch, an International Emmy nominee best known internationally for Love Actually, Stein, a German Comedy Award winner, and the broader ensemble have pointed to the series’ blend of genuine family desperation, absurd humor, and distinctly German small-town texture as key to its cross-border appeal. Executive producer Nataly Kudiabor has echoed this view, noting that authenticity—not dilution of local specifics—helps stories travel: universal questions such as “How far would you go to save your child?” resonate when rooted in a specific place and tone.
Created and written by Oliver Lansley (based on a story by Zoltan Spirandelli) and directed by Tobi Baumann and Christian Ditter, the series was developed as an international collaboration while remaining firmly German-language. Its success has been cited as evidence that high-quality German television can compete on global streaming platforms without abandoning its cultural specificity.
Apple TV continues to release new episodes of season two weekly.
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Will we eventually get an Esperanto-language original soon? I’d pay good money for that, and I think Apple TV is the perfect place to host a show like that. Really put that “Think Different” slogan to use!