Servant of the People (2015 TV series)

Servant of the People
Servant of the People poster
GenrePolitical satire
Comedy
Created byVolodymyr Zelenskyy
Starring
Theme music composerDmytro Shurov
Composer
  • Andriy Kiryuschenko
Country of originUkraine
Original languagesRussian
Ukrainian
No. of seasons3
No. of episodes51
Production
Executive producer
  • Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Producers
Production locationsKyiv, Ukraine
Running time40—90 minutes
Production company
Original release
Network1+1
Release16 November 2015 (2015-11-16) –
28 March 2019 (2019-03-28)

Servant of the People (Ukrainian: Слуга народу, romanizedSluha narodu, Russian: Слуга народа, romanizedSluga naroda), sometimes also known as Servant of the Nation, is a Ukrainian political satire comedy television series created and produced by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who stars as Vasily Petrovych Goloborodko, a high-school history teacher in his thirties who is unexpectedly elected President of Ukraine after a viral video filmed by one of his students shows him making a profane rant against government corruption in his country. The series ran for three seasons from 2015 to 2019, and a film adaptation was released in 2016.

The series was produced by Kvartal 95, which was founded by Zelenskyy. It would become much more involved in Ukraine's actual politics; in 2018, a political party named after the television series was registered, and Zelenskyy was elected president of Ukraine in 2019.

Plot

After being filmed by a student engaged in a profane rant about corruption in Ukraine and the student uploading the footage to YouTube, Vasily Petrovych Goloborodko (Volodymyr Zelenskyy), an absent-minded high-school history teacher who lives with his parents, turns into an Internet sensation overnight. Goloborodko's students launch a crowdfunding campaign for registering his candidacy in Ukraine's presidential race unbeknownst to him, eventually propelling their flabbergasted teacher to political victory as the new president of Ukraine. While in office, Vasily is confused at his newfound responsibilities, but gradually eases into his presidential duties and decides to weed out corruption by the oligarchy in his government.

Cast and characters

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the current President of Ukraine, portrayed President Vasily Goloborodko and Grisha in the series
Actor / actress Role(s) Note Seasons
1 (2015) 2 (2017) 3 (2019)
Volodymyr Zelenskyy Vasily Petrovych Goloborodko,
Grisha
A high school history teacher in his thirties who is unexpectedly elected President of Ukraine, following a rant against government corruption in his country secretly filmed by one of his students.

Zelenskyy also portrays Grisha, a government employee who received plastic surgery to serve as Goloborodko's body double.

Main
Stanislav Boklan Yuriy Ivanovich Chuiko A corrupt politician who serves as the Prime Minister of Ukraine and is later exposed as an ally of the oligarchs. Main
Yevhen Koshovy Serhiy Viktorovich Mukhin The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and a former actor. Main
Olena Kravets Olha Yuriyivna Mishchenko Vasily's ex-wife and the director of the National Bank of Ukraine. She later becomes acting Prime Minister. Main
Yury Krapov [ru; uk] Mikhaylo Ivanovich Sanin The Minister of Fiscal Affairs of Ukraine. Main
Mykhailo Fatalov [ru; uk] Mikhail Ashotovich Tasunyan The head of the Ukrainian Secret Service (SBU) Main
Oleksandr Pikalov [Wikidata] Ivan Andreyevich Skorik The Minister of Defence of Ukraine and a former navy captain. Main
Viktor Saraykin [ru; uk] Petro Vassilyevich Goloborodko Vasily's father Main
Kateryna Kisten [ru; uk] Svetlana Petrovna Sakhno Vasily's sister and briefly first deputy of the Ukrainian tax service. Main
Nataliya Sumska Mariya Stefanovna Goloborodko Vasily's mother Main Minor
Olha Zhukovtsova-Kyiashko [uk] Oksana Skovoroda Mukhin's secretary. Minor Main
Heorhiy Povolotskyy Tolya The Chief of Security and a bodyguard who is initially part of Vasily's security detail before he is dismissed after Vasily regards the detail as unnecessary to his work. Minor Main
Dmytro Surzhykov Dmitry Vasilyevich Surikov Prime Minister of Ukraine, former chairman of the supervisory board of the National Bank Minor Main
Halyna Bezruk (Season 1)
Anastasia Chepelyuk (Season 2)
Anna Mikhailovna The General Adviser to the President, a former specialist of the Development Department, and Vasily's mistress, who is exposed as an ally of the oligarchs.
Anna Koshmal [Wikidata] Natasha Sakhno The niece of Vasily Goloborodko
Valentyna Ishchenko Bella Rudolfivna Secretary of Vasily Goloborodko
Stepan Kazanin Speechwriter Assistant to Vasily Goloborodko

Minor roles

Actor / actress Role Note
Oleksiy Kiryushchenko Sergei Pavlovich Former president
Tetyana Pechonkina Nina Yegorivna Tretyak Former teacher of Goloborodko, former head of the SBU
Yuriy Hrebelnyk Plato
Oleksiy Vertinsky Sergey Susseldorf Designer (Episode 5) / Louis XVI (Episode 20)
Oleh Maslennykov Oligarch Oligarch
Olena Bondareva-Repina Raisa Andriivna School principal
Oleksiy Smolka Serhiy Leonidovych Karasyuk Leader of the faction
Anastasiya Karpenko Yana Klymenko Opposition journalist
Mykhailo August Andriy Volodymyrovych Yakovlev Minister of Culture
Danilo Oskin Mykhailo Semenovych Oligarch
Vitaliy Ivanchenko Vitaliy Romanchenko MP from the Dobrobut faction
Rinat Khabibulin Dima Vasily's son
Oleksandr Danylchenko Nikolay Pavlovich Pilipenko Chief of ZhEK
Alexander Ignatusha Judge/Monk Sebastian Judge/Monk
Nazar Zadniprovskyy
Andriy Romaniy Host of political talk show
Dmytro Melenevsky Karasyuk's bodyguard
Andriy Danylko Verka Serduchka Ukrainian pop singer
Darya Pitsul Journalist

Episodes

Season 1

Season 2: From Love to Impeachment

Season 3: Choice

Development

Production

  • Concept: Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Andriy Yakovlev, Oleksiy Kiryushchenko, Serhiy Shefir, Borys Shefir
  • Scriptwriters: Andriy Yakovlev, Oleksiy Kiryushchenko, Yuriy Kostyuk, Yuriy Mykulenko, Dmytro Hryhorenko, Mykhailo Savin, Dmytro Kozlov, Oleksandr Bragin
  • Directed by: Oleksiy Kiryushchenko
  • Cinematographer: Serhiy Koshel
  • Production designer: Vadim Shinkaryov
  • Composer: Andriy Kiryushchenko
  • Soundtrack: Dmitry Shurov, Potap and Nastya
  • Make-up artist: Nina Kremeshna-Lavrinenko
  • Costume designer: Veronika Yatsenko
  • Executive producer: Victor Yarish
  • Creative producer: Yuri Kostyuk
  • Producers: Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Borys Shefir, Serhiy Shefir, Andriy Yakovlev, Oleksiy Kiryushchenko

Release

Servant of the People aired on the 1+1 channel in Ukraine. The studio also posted all episodes for free on YouTube. The first season of the show was added to Netflix in select countries in 2017. Sometime in 2021 Netflix lost licensing rights. In March 2022, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, Netflix re-licensed the first season, and in May 2022 added the second and third seasons for 33+ countries. The Netflix release combines the first two episodes into one in both season one and two, resulting in 23 episodes instead of 24 for both seasons.

Belarusian TV channel Belarus-1 started broadcasting the show in evening prime time on 11 November 2019.

The Russian channel TNT aired the pilot episode of the show's first series on 11 December 2019, claiming it did so as "a marketing move to raise awareness of the platform". TNT cut a scene from the episode in which president-elect Goloborodko asked if Russian President Vladimir Putin wore a Hublot watch, a joke referring to a well-known anti-Putin chant in Ukraine.

In the United States, HITN presents the series in a Spanish language version. Jewish Life Television carries the series in its original Russian and Ukrainian languages, with English subtitles.

Sequels

A film adaptation of the series, Servant of the People 2, was released in 2016. The second season used footage from the film to expand on its plot and was released in 2017, bringing the film into the series' main continuity. The third season was released in 2019.

Impact

2019

Zelenskyy would later mirror his character's rise to political power in being elected President of Ukraine in 2019. After his victory was announced, Zelenskyy walked onto the stage at his campaign headquarters with the show's theme playing.

2022

In the wake of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and Zelenskyy's wartime leadership, the show's popularity received a notable boost. Broadcasting rights have been requested by various foreign companies. On March 16, Netflix announced that season 1 of the series would be available to US streamers again due to popular demand. On May 16, Netflix added seasons 2 and 3.

Broadcasting rights

During 2022, Zelenskyy won widespread admiration as a resistance figure against Russia and Putin, leading to the series becoming more popular in turn. Foreign broadcasting companies have sought to air Servant of the People on their own channels.

Remakes

An American remake was ordered by Hulu, with British writer Simon Farnaby involved in its development, though the show was scrapped when Donald Trump became the 45th president of the United States.

After the premiere of the original show, the rights to make Poland-based remake were bought by Okil Khamidov, however no studio wanted to pick it up. In 2022, in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Zelenskyy's wartime leadership, the original show's popularity received a notable boost internationally. Considering that Polsat had picked up the remake. The show, titled Servant of the People, was premiered on 4 March 2023. It was created by Okil Khamidov, and directed by Khamidov and Maciej Bieliński. It was made by Polot Media, and distributed by Polsat. Currently it has one season of 24 episodes, and a second season is in production. The first episode of the series was sent by Khamidov to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who reportedly liked it, and was glad that the series was finally made, after years of attempts.

See also

  • Man of the Year (2006), American film with a similar concept, starring Robin Williams as a talk show host who is elected president following an offhanded remark.
  • Welcome Mr. President (2013), Italian film with similar concept, starring Claudio Bisio as a librarian who is elected president due to a joke vote.
  • Nayak: The Real Hero - 2001 Indian Hindi-language political action film in which a TV journalist is challenged to take over the Chief Minister's job for a day.

This page was last updated at 2024-01-26 14:20 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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