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Netflix makes Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Servant of the People show available to stream

Netflix makes Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Servant of the People show available to stream

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Before he became the real president of Ukraine, Zelenskyy played one on TV

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Volodymyr Zelenskyy once played Ukraine’s president in a comedy series.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy once played Ukraine’s president in a comedy series.
Photo by Sergei Supinsky / AFP via Getty Images

The comedy satire series Servant of the People, which stars former actor and current Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is available once again on Netflix in the US, the streamer announced Wednesday. In the show, which was on Ukrainian television from 2015 to 2019 and first aired on Netflix from 2017 to 2021, Zelenskyy played a teacher who unexpectedly becomes president of Ukraine after a video of him complaining about corruption goes viral.

The show ended production when Zelenskyy decided to run for president of Ukraine in 2019 as a member of the Servant of the People political party (he won in a landslide). Zelenskyy campaigned on promises of building a new Ukraine, telling supporters in his acceptance speech, “I will never fail you.”

Since the show left Netflix in 2021 it hasn’t been widely available on premium services in the US, but Zelenskyy has recently become a familiar face to international audiences nonetheless, posting defiant videos to social media, and showing Ukrainians’ resistance to the Russian invasion which began last month. Zelenskyy has also appeared by video to the governing bodies of Western countries, including the UK and Canada, imploring lawmakers to push for a no-fly zone over Ukraine.

On Wednesday morning, he made a passionate address to Congress, evoking Pearl Harbor and September 11th to describe what was happening in his country. He showed a graphic video with footage of Russian air attacks and their impact on the Ukrainian people, which ended with the words “close the sky over Ukraine.” Zelenskyy appealed directly to President Joe Biden, saying, “You are the leader of the nation, of your great nation. I wish you to be the leader of the world. Being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace.”

You can watch Zelenskyy’s full speech to Congress below — be advised that the video he plays includes numerous graphic images of the death and destruction in Ukraine.