As the profile of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has risen as his country is at war with Russia, Netflix has rereleased a comedy series he starred in.
Zelenskyy, a former actor before he became president of the Eastern European nation, stars in the 2015 series “Servant of the People,” which returned to Netflix on Wednesday.
“Servant of the People” is described as a “political comedy about an ordinary school teacher becoming the president of Ukraine. He tries to live an ordinary life without all the ‘president’s privileges’ and works very hard to build a new country and fight the army of corrupt and deceitful bureaucrats,” a summary of the series reads.
The show aired from 2015 to 2019 and has 51 episodes, all starring Zelenskyy.
Zelenskyy was elected president in April 2019, and “Servant of the People” was his last acting role before he took office.
Last week, Mashable recommended the show to viewers in the United States, calling it “one of the most intriguing and historically important shows you could possibly watch right now.”
“The series is a comedy but also an important document of where (Zelenskyy) comes from,” Eccho Managing Partner Nicola Soderlund told Deadline this month.
Now the leader of Ukraine, Zelenskyy has become a worldwide star in recent weeks as he stood up against Russian forces who have invaded his country. He has refused to leave Ukraine, despite being called Russia’s “target No. 1.”
Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine on three fronts early Thursday, Feb. 24, “bombarding cities, towns and villages” as forces advanced toward the capital of Kyiv.
“We are not putting down arms,” Zelenskyy said Saturday, Feb. 26. “We will be defending our country, because our weapon is truth, and our truth is that this is our land, our country, our children, and we will defend all of this.”
———
