1983 (TV series)

1983 is a Polish thriller drama television series produced for and released by Netflix on 30 November 2018. The series, created and written by Joshua Long and based on an original idea by Long and Maciej Musiał, is set in an alternate timeline in which the fall of the communist Polish People's Republic never happened, and the Iron Curtain is still in place.^[1][2] It is Netflix's first Polish original series.^[3]

1983
Genre	Thriller drama
Created by	Joshua Long
Written by	Joshua Long
Story by	Joshua Long Maciej Musiał
Directed by	Katarzyna Adamik Olga Chajdas Agnieszka Holland Agnieszka Smoczyńska
Starring	Maciej Musiał Robert Więckiewicz Michalina Olszańska Zofia Wichłacz Andrzej Chyra Krzysztof Wach
Country of origin	Poland
Original languages	Polish English Russian Vietnamese
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	8
Production
Production companies	The Kennedy/Marshall Company House Media Company
Original release
Network	Netflix
Release	November 30, 2018 (2018-11-30)

Premise

The series is set in 2003; 20 years after a coordinated terrorist attack took place on multiple sites in Poland in 1983 which altered the course of history. The Iron Curtain (and probably the Berlin Wall) is still in place and the Cold War did not end. Law student Kajetan (Maciej Musiał) and Citizens' Militia investigator Anatol (Robert Więckiewicz) uncover a conspiracy that could potentially start a revolution.

Setting

The story is set in a gloomy and cold Warsaw, where dilapidated, grimy Soviet-style apartment blocks stand side by side with futuristic and imposing government and police buildings. The secret police of the Security Bureau now use computer surveillance mechanisms, tracking cell phones and digitizing citizens' data (classified according to their "level of danger").^[4] People need to scan their digital ID cards before entering government buildings, leaving a record of their activities.

Society is run by the "Party", a privileged elite who enjoy a good education, high economic and social status, and live in gated compounds. The rest of the population is uninterested in politics and are distracted by escapism and consumerism, at least for goods that are not censored or prohibited. Many Western books are censored. The "Light Brigade", a group of young resistance fighters, oppose this dictatorship.

Poland is imagined to have seen massive immigration from Indochina, and in particular from the socialist republic of Vietnam. Some night scenes set in overcrowded Asian neighborhoods hint at Ridley Scott's Blade Runner.

There are few explicit references to communism in the series (no statues of Lenin in the streets, no red stars on uniforms or revolutionary chants). The regime created an Orwellian state, whose sole ideological goal is the suppression of dissent and the control of individuals.

Agnieszka Holland, one of the series directors.

Cast

Main

• Maciej Musiał as Kajetan Skowron^[3]
• Robert Więckiewicz as Anatol Janów
• Michalina Olszańska as Ofelia Ibrom
• Zofia Wichłacz as Karolina Lis
• Andrzej Chyra as Władysław Lis

Recurring

• Ewa Błaszczyk as Maria Gierowska^[3]
• Edyta Olszówka as Julia Stępińska
• Agnieszka Żulewska as Maja Skowron
• Wojciech Kalarus as Mikołaj Trojan
• Mirosław Zbrojewicz as Kazimierz Świętobór
• Patrycja Volny as Dana Rolbiecki
• Vu Le Hong as Bao Chu ("Uncle")
• Clive Russell as William Keating
• Mateusz Kościukiewicz as Kamil Zatoń

Episodes

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original release date [5]
1	"Entanglement" "Uwikłanie"	Agnieszka Holland and Katarzyna Adamik	Joshua Long	November 30, 2018 (2018-11-30)
It is set in 2003 in a totalitarian Poland, after Poland suffered a series of massive terrorist bombings in 1983. The Cold War never ended, so the Iron Curtain remains in place. A young law student and a jaded old detective are starting to discover evidence of a conspiracy and they learn about the Light Brigade, a resistance movement.
2	"Rollback"	Agnieszka Holland and Katarzyna Adamik	Joshua Long	November 30, 2018 (2018-11-30)
3	"Alignment" "Układ"	Katarzyna Adamik	Joshua Long	November 30, 2018 (2018-11-30)
4	"Blowback" "Reperkusje"	Katarzyna Adamik	Joshua Long	November 30, 2018 (2018-11-30)
5	"Sanctuary" "Sanktuarium"	Olga Chajdas	Joshua Long	November 30, 2018 (2018-11-30)
6	"Subversion" "Zdrada"	Olga Chajdas	Joshua Long	November 30, 2018 (2018-11-30)
7	"Mayday"	Agnieszka Smoczyńska	Joshua Long	November 30, 2018 (2018-11-30)
8	"Requiem"	Katarzyna Adamik	Joshua Long	November 30, 2018 (2018-11-30)

Production

On 6 March 2018, Netflix announced that the series was in production, consisting of 8 episodes.^[6] On 2 October 2018, the first teaser trailer was released, with the series set to premiere globally on 30 November.^[3]

A second season is being considered.^[7]