The Stasi assassin who became a Netflix revenge icon
In short: Imagine being a high-level state assassin, only to be framed by your own agency and thrown into prison. For Kleo Straub, the fall of the Berlin Wall wasn't just a political shift—it was the starting gun for a cold, calculated quest for vengeance against the conspirators who betrayed her.
Kleo is a German action-thriller comedy that premiered on Netflix in August 2022. The narrative centers on Kleo Straub, an unofficial assassin for the East German Stasi. Her life takes a dramatic turn in 1987 after she successfully assassinates a double agent in a West Berlin club. Instead of being rewarded, she is falsely imprisoned by her own agency for an alleged act of treason. The show features a younger version of the protagonist played by Rosa Wirtz. It also includes a character named Uwe Mittig, who served as an accomplice during her 1987 mission.
The story shifts gears in 1989 as the Berlin Wall falls. Upon her release, Kleo begins a methodical revenge mission against those who framed her. This pursuit is complicated by Sven Petzold, an underappreciated West Berlin fraud policeman who witnessed the 1987 murder and begins to connect the dots between the crime and Straub's identity. The series explores the friction between these two characters as their paths collide in the post-reunification landscape. Sven Petzold's wife, Jenny Schneider, becomes emotionally distant from him during these events. Additionally, his teenage son, Mark Petzold, is also part of the narrative.
The production of Kleo represents a significant investment in German-language content. Netflix ordered the series in February 2022 as part of a larger package of 19 German-language productions valued at US$571 million. The show features a sprawling cast of historical and fictional figures, including high-ranking officials like Erich Mielke, the head of the Stasi, and even the wife of East German leader Erich Honecker, who serves as Kleo's aunt. Filming took place across diverse locations including Berlin, Eisenhüttenstadt, and Mallorca. The production involved a script adaptation by Ed Hughes for the English dub. Filming for the second season expanded to include Belgrade as a primary location.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Kleo
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