Will “Sam – A Saxon” Get a Second Season? Malick Bauer in an interview about the peculiarity of the 1st German Disney+ series

The time has come: Disney+ keeps up with Prime Video and Netflix! Because with “Sam – Ein Sachse”, the streaming service’s first German-language original series is now available. And it has a lot to offer: based on true events, the thriller-drama series tells the story of the rise and fall of the first black police officer in the GDR, Samuel Meffire.

MOVIE STARTS author Sidney Schering sat down (online) on the occasion of the start of the series with the man who embodies Meffire in the format: protagonist Malik Bauer, who previously appeared in “Frau Jordan equaates”, among others. The actor tells, among other things, how he came into contact with the series created by co-star Tyron Ricketts and “Deutschland 83” creator Jörg Winger, and how he prepared for the complex leading role…

Malik Bauer: This story was also new to me before Tyron Ricketts brought me to the project. I approached him at an event because, as a younger black artist, I really wanted to thank him for all the things he’s done in terms of representation. After all, he actively fights for the German film and series landscape to look more and more like German society has done for a long time.

When I was about to leave after thanking him, he stopped me and said to me: “Hey, you look like a man whose life story I wanted to tell for a long time with the help of Jörg Winger. Why don’t you come to the casting ?” So I did some research on the internet – that was in 2019, and then you only found a few excerpts, but in the meantime you can find out more about Samuel Meffire, including through his book tour and certainly through our series…

Help from the real Sam

Malik Bauer: No, I’m convinced: do as much research as possible! You can always leave what you don’t need – although it’s the same as with a good casserole: something always remains in the broth, even if you don’t realize it. I was also privileged to have the real Samuel tell me a lot about his life, and he also gave me the rough draft of his book “I, a Saxon” during the shoot. And we made a multi-day tour along important stages in his life.

At the same time, he gave me creative freedom as an artist: Samuel told me: I have to take everything I want to take with me for my portrait – and everything I don’t want to take I can leave by the side of the road . It was also crucial: Samuel did not want to be washed clean – on the contrary! Therefore, I could draw everything I needed for my acting from his real life and the great scripts of Jörg Winger and Christoph Silber.

Malik Bauer: I do not believe. I would never have done anything lurid with his story. In any scenario, I would have based myself on what serves the story. And Samuel has done some things in his life that are, to put it mildly, “difficult”. But thank goodness he sticks with it, so I don’t see a case where we disagree.

But if Samuel had hypothetically wanted him to be portrayed in the series as a poor church mouse, a completely helpless victim of society and its racism, I wouldn’t have agreed. He is a man who, in reality and in the series, never lets himself be denied the power to make decisions. He acts from a utopian idea about his homeland. He is dedicated, takes risks by caring – until he makes mistakes. But make this mistake . He is not forced by racism or other influences to make these mistakes.

He makes these mistakes because he is a person who acts intensely and cannot control his own drive. This is deadly, but also has an element of the understandable: there is a person who urgently wants to act and do good, but is growing up in conditions akin to civil war – whose danger Germany has been downplayed for decades. For example, you have to take into account that the right-wing gang that killed Jorge Gomondai in Dresden was just hunting down Samuel. Samuel narrowly escaped. Thank God. That doesn’t excuse Samuel’s mistakes, but it’s an important and fascinating story. And slippery heroes don’t interest me as an artist. That’s why I found “Sam – Ein Sachse” so exciting – if we had to make Samuel a clean man, I wouldn’t have been interested.

Malik Bauer: I like roles like that – that’s art! I don’t want to play clean men with moral integrity, they are uninteresting. But I have nothing against pathos or exaggeration. I come from the theater and we play with that a lot – whether it’s Greek mythology or Shakespeare. It’s all exciting. I love “Othello”, but I would like to play not only “Othello” but also “Richard III”!

As an actor, I’m always looking for the break between who we claim to be and who we really are. Life is also complex, and if everything becomes safe while German art finally becomes more diverse, I wouldn’t find that satisfying as an artist. I like to play age-old stories of murder, intrigue and manslaughter. So it would be a shame if I could only play uncomplicated roles. But I have nothing against characters who are over it – a role like Tom Hardy in “Bronson” would be a dream… A little tip for all decision makers out there… (laughs)

Will there be a second season?

Malik Bauer: Yes, but I want to keep the answer vague so as not to disadvantage the viewer: there is a scene where a great mystery in Samuel’s life is revealed. And I didn’t know how to play it beforehand. But when the shooting day came, it all came naturally thanks to my previous contact with Samuel. It was a cleansing, special experience for me.

Malik Bauer: I would only do a second season if it has integrity. The first season is already an intense journey – but I know from Samuel that there is still intense material from his life. There are many ways to spread the word, but at the same time I believe in this season as a work of art in itself. Therefore: Would it not be purely capitalistic interest to make a second season, but a decision of conviction – I would definitely be there.