| Genre: | Political satire Comedy |
| Country: | Ukraine |
| Language: | Russian Ukrainian |
| Network: | 1+1 |
| Creator: | Volodymyr Zelenskyy |
| Theme Music Composer: | Dmytro Shurov |
| Location: | Kyiv, Ukraine |
| Num Seasons: | 3 |
| Num Episodes: | 51 |
| Runtime: | 40—90 minutes |
Servant of the People, also known as Servant of the Nation, is a Ukrainian political satire comedy series created and produced by Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Zelenskyy 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[1] [2] [3] . The series ran for three seasons between 2015 and 2019, followed by a film adaptation which was released in 2016.[4]
The series was produced by Kvartal 95, founded by Zelenskyy.[5] It would become much more involved in Ukraine's actual politics and in 2018, a political party named after the television series was registered.[6] Following this, Zelenskyy was elected president of Ukraine in 2019.[7]
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.[8] [9]
| 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 | |||
| 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 | |||
| Mikhaylo Ivanovich Sanin | The Minister of Fiscal Affairs of Ukraine. | Main | ||||
| Mikhail Ashotovich Tasunyan | The head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) | Main | ||||
| Ivan Andreyevich Skorik | The Minister of Defence of Ukraine and a former navy captain. | Main | ||||
| Petro Vassilyevich Goloborodko | Vasily's father | Main | ||||
| 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 | ||
| 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. | ||||
| Natasha Sakhno | The niece of Vasily Goloborodko | |||||
| Valentyna Ishchenko | Bella Rudolfivna | Secretary of Vasily Goloborodko | ||||
| Stepan Kazanin | Speechwriter | Assistant to Vasily Goloborodko | ||||
| 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 |
Servant of the People aired on the 1+1 channel in Ukraine.[1] The studio also posted all episodes for free on YouTube.[2] The first season of the show was added to Netflix in select countries in 2017.[2] 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.[10] [11] 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.[12]
Belarusian TV channel Belarus-1 started broadcasting the show in evening prime time on 11 November 2019.[13]
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".[13] 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.[14]
In the United States, HITN presents the series in a Spanish language version.[15] Jewish Life Television carries the series in its original Russian and Ukrainian languages, with English subtitles.[16]
See main article: Servant of the People 2.
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.[17]
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.[18]
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.[19] On March 16, Netflix announced that season 1 of the series would be available to US streamers again due to popular demand.[20] [21] [22] On May 16, Netflix added seasons 2 and 3.
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.
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.[23]
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.[24] [25] 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.[26]