Have you struggled to fill The Crown shaped hole in your heart since the series concluded? You’re not alone! While we’ve worked our way through our fair share of outstanding period dramas, we’ve missed Gillian Anderson’s formidable performance as Margaret Thatcher, and the fascinating plot lines following the royal family. Netflix have responded to our hankering for history, bringing the series creator, Peter Morgan, and Gillian together in a powerful new historic drama – The Boys From Brazil – which is set to be even better.
However, it’s not exactly escapist television, more a thrilling tale of vitriol, vengeance and obsession steeped in the dark history of World War II. The series follows Yakov Liebermann (Jeremy Strong), a Holocaust survivor who’s on a mission to take down Nazis who have managed to take refuge across South America. But when he comes across the plans of a nefarious doctor who was long-believed dead, will he be able to stop it in time?
With the new series coming to Netflix, here’s everything you need to know about The Boys From Brazil, including the plot, cast and how to watch it.
What is The Boys From Brazil about?
The Crown’s creator Peter Morgan is adapting Ira Levin’s classic 1976 Boys From Brazil and the five-part series promises to be part historical thriller and part moral reckoning. At the centre of the story is Holocaust survivor and Nazi hunter Yakov Liebermann (Jeremy Strong), who is on a mission, from the immediate aftermath of World War II through to the turbulent 1970s, to bring Nazi fugitives to justice.
His crusade, which has already cost him so much, takes a sinister turn when one of his young protégés working undercover in Brazil learns a chilling Nazi scientist, Doctor Johann-Friedrich Meinhardt, who was long believed dead, is alive. And, not only that, he’s spearheading a depraved plan to spark the rise of a Fourth Reich. Will Yakov be able to stop him in time and expose his dark plan?
‘Building on his extraordinary work with The Crown, Peter [Morgan] continues to examine the political and emotional forces which, through the 20th century, have moulded the world we live in today,’ Suzanne Mackie, an executive producer for Orchid Pictures told Netflix. ‘That he does so via the intimate human stories within the sweep of history makes his storytelling powerfully relatable,’ she added.
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Who’s in the cast of The Boys From Brazil?
The cast of The Boys From Brazil includes:
- Jeremy Strong (The Apprentice, Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere) as Yakov Liebermann
- August Diehl (A Hidden Life, Inglourious Basterds) as Johann-Friedrich Meinhardt
- Daniel Brühl (Rush, Inglourious Basterds) as Von Harteneck
- Gillian Anderson (The Crown, Trespasses, The Abandons) as Frieda Steiner.
- Shira Haas (Unorthodox, Captain America: Brave New World) as Anna Koehler
- Lizzy Caplan (Masters Of Sex, Fleishman Is In Trouble) as Hannah Liebermann.
How can I watch The Boys From Brazil?
Netflix hasn’t yet released the premiere date for The Boys From Brazil, but as soon as we have a confirmed date, we’ll let you know here.
What other period dramas can I watch now?
If you’re after a lighter period drama, we’d recommend Summer ’36, a French whodunnit which transports you to the dazzling French Riviera in 1936. When a prosecutor dies, four very different women all become prime suspects – and it’s a riveting ride to work out who was actually responsible. Summer ’36 is available to watch now on Netflix. For another escapist trip through history, we’d point you towards High Seas, where we set sail on a swanky transatlantic ship setting sail from Europe to South America in the 1940s. It introduces sisters Eva (Ivana Baquero) and Carolina Villanueva (Alejandra Onieva), who soon find themselves caught in a web of mysteries. You can watch High Seas now on Netflix.
