“Unfamiliar,” Netflix’s action-packed yet unconventional spy series that follows a married couple and former intelligence operators who are suddenly forced to deal with a deadly menace from their past, shot to the top spot globally among the streamer’s non-English shows in its first week of release.
Launched on Feb. 5, the Gaumont Germany production centers on former top agents Meret (Susanne Wolff) and Simon (Felix Kramer), who run a secret safe house in Berlin. When a long-buried threat materializes, they find themselves facing off with contract killers, Russian agents and their former employer, the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND), all while trying to protect a secret that could cost them their family and their lives.
“Unfamiliar” is Netflix’s second major high-end show from Gaumont Germany after the Roman-era action series “Barbarians,” which premiered on Netflix in 2020. It was the work on that show that led to “Unfamiliar.”
Paul Coates, Andreas Bareiss
Gaumont
Creator Paul Coates was set to write the planned Season 3 of “Barbarians” before it was canceled. He then pitched his idea for a spy series, continuing the collaboration with Gaumont senior executive producer Andreas Bareiss.
Speaking to Variety, Coates says his take on the show reflects his own experience and stage in life.
“From my point of view, I’m obviously approaching the same age as Meret and Simon in the show, and I just felt like I needed to write about what you know, really — not spy work — but just [being] in your 50s with all the physical changes that come with age. I think for Andreas it was similar. I love spy shows, I love crime — that’s probably the genre I mostly write in. And this just made it feel very different. If you’re going to tell a spy show, tell it with somebody of our age, our experience. It just makes it feel original, and that’s what we were looking for.
Bareiss adds: “For me, every great spy series carries an element of high drama. What we found especially compelling was the age of the two protagonists, because their work — the confrontations, the fights — is intensely physical. And at our age, it’s simply not so easy to fight for your life. That’s why we wanted to really embrace and feel their age as part of the story. It adds something more interesting, more authentic, and ultimately more grounded for us.”
In making the series, the producers sought direct assistance from the BND.
“They were very supportive,” says Bareiss. “We shared the story with the BND because authenticity was important to us. We wanted to create a series that feels plausible and grounded — something that could really happen, rather than pure fiction, especially for a German audience, which tends to be very critical in this regard. The BND provided us with a great deal of information, and the actors also had the opportunity to ask questions directly.”
The production was also able to shoot exterior scenes outside the BND headquarters in Berlin while observing strict security protocols.
“We were only allowed to shoot on Saturdays and Sundays because they didn’t want us filming people casually walking out of the BND building,” Bareiss recalls. “So yes, there were quite a few restrictions, but of course, that’s to be expected. It’s the BND after all. You can’t exactly treat it like a restaurant you just drop into. Still, they were incredibly friendly and surprisingly helpful, and they really supported us in making everything feel as authentic as possible.”
For Gaumont, “Unfamiliar” aligned perfectly with the kind of ambitious international storytelling the company is drawn to and immediately felt like the right project for the group, Bareiss notes.
“What really excited us was the world we created here. It’s something quite special. And if you look at our past series — ‘Barbarians,’ ‘Narcos,’ ‘Lupin’ — each of them lives in its own distinct world. That’s always what we’re searching for: these unique worlds where a great story can truly unfold.
“That’s why ‘Unfamiliar’ felt so compelling for us, and why we wanted to bring it to Netflix. Netflix is a partner that shares that desire to elevate stories and make them even bigger, even stronger — so it was a very natural step. And thankfully, it all came together.”
“This is already our second major series from Germany for Netflix, after ‘Barbarians.’ So in a way, it feels like coming back to a partner we know well. We’ve gotten very familiar with Netflix’s DNA — how they work, how they think about storytelling — and that experience gave us a lot of confidence going into this project,” Bareiss adds.
In coming up with the story, Coates was initially inspired by Tarik Saleh’s action thriller “The Contractor,” starring Chris Pine, in particular a key scene in which the protagonist is beaten up and shot. Injured and on the ground, he is handed a phone number and told to call.
“The next scene is with Eddie Marsan, a fantastic English actor who I absolutely love. He was in the middle of nowhere running this safe house, and I was just absolutely fixed on him. He was only in the film for about 10 minutes maximum. Where did he go when he wasn’t there? What was his life like? How did he get to this point? And none of those questions were answered … but that’s where that idea came from.”
If he was going to tell that kind of story, it was going to be about somebody his own age, and married, not a loner, Coates explains. “And then Berlin was the obvious place. If you’re going to tell a spy story, tell it in Berlin.
In casting the series, Coates and Bareiss found the ideal actors in Wolff and Kramer.
“I mean, just look at them,” Coates says. “Just watch them! We saw a lot of people. A lot of people wanted to take part in this, which was quite a compliment. But, you know, when you just saw them together, that was that.”
Directed by Lennart Ruff and Philipp Leinemann, “Unfamiliar” boasts a large ensemble cast that includes Henry Hübchen, Samuel Finzi, Laurence Rupp, Seyneb Saleh, Natalia Belitski, Andreas Pietschmann, Genija Rykova, Sina Martens, Maja Bons, Anand Batbileg Chuluunbaatar and Aaron Altaras.