Designated Survivor (TV series)

Television series
German title	Designated survivor
Original title	Designated survivor
Country of production	United States
original language	English
Year (s)	2016-2019
Production ; company	ABC Studios , ; The Mark Gordon Company, ; Genre Films
length	42-50 minutes
Episodes	53 in 3 seasons ( list )
genre	Political thriller , drama
idea	David Guggenheim
music	Sean Callery , ; Robert Lydecker
First broadcast	September 21, 2016 (USA) on ABC
; First publication in German	November 6, 2016 on Netflix
occupation
synchronization

Designated Survivor ( German (before) certain survivors ) is an American television series by David Guggenheim with Kiefer Sutherland in the lead role. The series received a direct order from ABC on December 14, 2015. The first broadcast took place on September 21, 2016 on ABC.

In late September 2016, it was announced that ABC had ordered a full first season of the series. Instead of the planned 13 episodes, it should come to 22 episodes ( back nine order ). Ultimately, the first season, which concluded on May 17, 2017, only consisted of 21 episodes.

The series is available on Netflix in German-speaking countries . Unlike most of the provider's other licensed series, Netflix did not wait for all episodes to be produced and dubbed before broadcasting; Instead, the pilot episode was put online on November 6, 2016, and further episodes were mostly published on a weekly basis.

On May 11, 2017, the broadcasting station ABC ordered a second season of the series and aired it from September 27, 2017. In German-speaking countries, Netflix once again took over the first broadcast via streaming and started it on October 6, 2017.

The series was discontinued in May 2018 after two seasons of ABC. In September 2018, Netflix announced the production of a ten-part third season. The season was released on June 7, 2019. On July 24, 2019, Netflix announced the cancellation of the series.

action

On the evening of the annual State of the Union Address address to Congress in the Capitol , all members present, the members of the Supreme Court and the President and his cabinet members, with the exception of the housing minister, non-party architecture professor Thomas Kirkman, appear to pass through an explosion killed. Kirkman is a designated survivor ( emergency survivor ) in a secure location within view of the Capitol. Since the spokesman for the House of Representatives and the President of the Senate also fell pro tempore as a result of the explosion , Kirkman, as the last living cabinet member, was immediately placed under the protection of the Secret Service , driven to the White House and sworn in as the new President of the United States. From now on, Kirkman has to deal with the repair of the political system in the United States as well as against internal and external coup attempts. In addition, attempts are being made to undermine his legitimacy because of the circumstances surrounding his assumption of office.

Cast and dubbing

The German dubbing for season 1 & 2 was based on dialogue books by Claudia Heuer and Ariane Huth under the dialogue direction by Charles Rettinghaus by the dubbing company Studio Hamburg Synchron in Hamburg . From the third season onwards, Celine Fontange will direct the dialogue.

Main cast

Role name	actor	Episodes (main role)	Episodes (cameo)	Voice actor	Role description
Thomas Adam "Tom" Kirkman	Kiefer Sutherland	1.01-3.10		Tobias Master	Designated Survivor , later President of the United States
Alexandra "Alex" Kirkman	Natascha McElhone	1.01-2.10		Marion von Stengel	EEOC lawyer and Tom's wife, later First Lady
Aaron Shore	Adan Canto	1.01-3.10		Martin Lohmann	White House Chief of Staff , later National Security Advisor
Emily Rhodes	Italia Ricci	1.01-3.10		Kristina von Weltzien	Special Advisor to the President, later Chief of Staff of the White House
Mike Ritter	LaMonica Garrett	1.01-2.22		Charles Rettinghaus	Secret Service Agent
Leo Kirkman	Tanner Buchanan	1.01-1.13	1.14-2.22	Flemming stone	Tom and Alex's son
Seth Wright	Kal Penn	1.01-3.10		Jens Wendland	Speechwriter for the President, later White House Press Secretary
Hannah Wells	Maggie Q	1.01-3.07		Celine Fontanges	FBI agent investigating on behalf of the White House; later an analyst at the CIA
Lyor Boone	Paulo Costanzo	2.01-2.22		Asad Black	Political Director of the White House
Kendra Danes	Zoe McLellan	2.01-2.22		Ulrike Stürzbecher	White House Legal Advisor
Damian Rennett	Ben Lawson	2.01-2.19		Jacob Weigert	MI6 agent
Mars Harper	Anthony Edwards	3.01-3.10			White House Chief of Staff
Lorraine room	Julie White	3.01-3.10			Campaign Manager for Tom Kirkman

Supporting cast

Role name	actor	consequences	Voice actor	Role description
Penny Kirkman	Mckenna Grace	1.01-1.03, 1.07, 1.12, 1.13, 1.15, 1.18, 1.21, 2.02, 2.04, 2.11, 2.12, 2.18, 3.01-3.10		Tom and Alex's daughter
Jason Atwood	Malik Yoba	1.02-1.19	Jürgen Holdorf	Deputy FBI Director
Kimble Hookstraten	Virginia Madsen	1.02-1.21	Ela Nitzsche	Congresswoman , later Speaker of the House , then Secretary of Education of the United States
Peter MacLeish	Ashley Zukerman	1.03-1.12	David Berton	Surviving Congressman, Vice President of the United States
Chuck Russink	Jake Epstein	1.03-2.22	Robert Kotulla	FBI hackers
Patrick Lloyd	Terry Serpico	1.18–2.02	Erik Schäffler	Mastermind of the terrorist attack
John Foerstel	Reed Diamond	1.09-2.16	Robert Missler	Attorney , later director of the FBI

Episode list

reception

criticism

Benedikt Frank from the Süddeutsche Zeitung believes that the Designated Survivor Hall reflects “the lost trust in the political elite”. He goes on to write that the series “intensifies the hostility of the political camps to the utmost” and allows “what was previously only hysterical election rhetoric to come true”; namely that "America against itself" is a coup.

Hannes Stein von der Welt sees the portrayed Thomas Kirkman as "the ideal figure to identify with for every middle-aged American" who sits down in front of the television after work. Despite content parallels to the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 , " Designated Survivor has a strange comforting effect ". With regard to a - at that time not yet established - presidency of Donald Trump , Stein suspects that the series "could then appear to viewers like a message in a bottle from a better world".

Matthias Sauermann from the Tiroler Tageszeitung criticizes in particular an exaggerated representation of Kirkman's apparent inexperience that the creators of the series obtained. It ignores the fact that Kirkman "was previously a minister in the government" and "thus knows both the Oval Office and politics not only from hearsay". Sauermann suspects that this circumstance should additionally increase the tension.

Tobias Jochheim from the Rheinische Post blames the series with “many characters drawn in wood” and “often badly constructed [e] bang-like cliffhangers ” even in the middle of the respective episodes. Designated survivor is "not particularly profound or even subtle, but extremely exciting".

Clemens Schömann Finch from Focus recognizes "a certain irony that Kiefer Sutherland the role of Thomas Kirkman" games, also because, as Jack Bauer in 24 had to prevent similar attacks. Schömann-Fink attests the series “her best moment”, particularly at the beginning of the first season, but over time “the series becomes less captivating”. He blames this, among other things, on the shown Thomas Kirkman, whose "flawlessness in the further course of the series is increasingly tiring". In addition, the extent of the conspiracy, which is gradually being cleared up, is "increasingly unreliable in its dimension". Schömann-Fink also finds the “bang-like cliffhanger several times per episode” annoying. All in all, " Designated Survivor, despite some weaknesses, is an exciting series with many surprising twists" that is worth watching.