Before Volodymyr Zelensky was Ukraine's president in real life, he was Ukraine's president on TV, as Netflix subscribers in the U.S. can now see for themselves.
Netflix has added Servant of the People, a Ukrainian political satire in which Zelensky plays the country's president, to its library in the United States. The show was previously on Netflix for several years but hadn't been available for U.S. subscribers in 2022. An article for Mashable recently dubbed the series "one of the most intriguing and historically important shows you could possibly watch right now" but noted it was difficult to access it in its entirety.
"You asked and it's back!" Netflix tweeted.
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Zelensky was an actor and comedian before being elected president of Ukraine, and in Servant of the People, he plays a teacher who unexpectedly is elected president after ranting against corruption in a viral video. The show aired from 2015 through 2019. In 2019, Zelensky was actually elected president after running as part of the Servant of the People party.
This year, Zelensky has become an international hero for defending his country against an ongoing Russian invasion, sparking renewed interest in his past acting roles. Multiple networks have picked up the rights to air Servant of the People, including Channel 4 in the United Kingdom, according to Deadline.
"The series is a comedy but also an important document of where Zelensky comes from," said Eccho Rights, the television group licensing the show, per The Hollywood Reporter. Eccho added there are "obvious parallels with the real-world situation."
Outside of Servant of the People, Zelensky also voiced Paddington Bear in the Ukrainian versions of the Paddington films, as star Hugh Bonneville noted. The actor tweeted, "Speaking for myself, thank you, President Zelenskiy."
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