Real issues, fictional ‘Regime’
Winslet, Grant star in new political drama
Flip through the pages of your local newspaper or turn the television to your preferred news network and you’ll see it: a plethora of stories chronicling the ins and outs of national politics. Oftentimes, the politics are related to your own nation, but in order to understand one’s own country’s goals, desires and needs, the news must also look abroad.While these news updates and articles centre exclusively on real-world issues in a 24-hour news cycle context, one HBO series is going above and beyond to bring real concerns into a scripted environment.
“The Regime,” a new limited miniseries from creator Will Tracy (“Last Week Tonight With John Oliver”), takes an in-depth look at the intricacies and concerns that come hand in hand with an authoritarian government. Set in Europe and created as a peek behind the curtain of fascism in the making, “The Regime” premieres Sunday, March 3, on HBO and Crave.
Previously operating under the working title “The Palace,” “The Regime” stars “Titanic” (1997) and “Mare of Easttown” actress Kate Winslet in the role of Chancellor. Although the term has often been associated with Germany,Winslet’s chancellor is the sinister and darkly comedic leader of a fictional European country.As the HBO teaser trailer illustrates, the titular regime is determined to see “a new Europe without limits [and] without cruelty,” but what that means for the regime is wildly different from what that means for its country’s people.
According to HBO, the miniseries “tells the story of a year within the palace of a modern European authoritarian regime as it unravels,” and who better to tell that story than the people behind some of the most successful business and political dramas of recent years: “Succession” and “The Crown.”
Brought to life by directors Stephen Frears (“The Queen,” 2006) and Jessica Hobbs (“The Crown”), series creator Tracy made sure to bring many talented satirists into the writers’ room with him. Helping him realize his vision for a dark and satirical political dramedy are Gary Shteyngart (“Succession”), Juli Weiner (“Last Week Tonight With John Oliver”), Jen Spyra (“Our Cartoon President”), Sarah DeLappe (“Bodies Bodies Bodies,” 2022) and Tracy’s “The Menu” (2022) co-writer, Seth Reiss.
In front of the camera, big-name stars Hugh Grant (“Love Actually,” 2003), Andrea Riseborough (“To Leslie,” 2022) and Martha Plimpton (“Generation”) join Winslet. Additionally, Matthias Schoenaerts (“Red Sparrow,” 2018) and Guillaume Gallienne (“Marie Antoinette,” 2006) star in recurring roles alongside Patrick Fusco (“Quiz”), Vinodini Patel (“Wicked Little Letters,” 2023), Alasdair Hankinson (“The Lost King,” 2022), Donald Sage Mackay (“The Following Events Are Based on a Pack of Lies”) and Louie Mynett (“The Man Who Fell to Earth”).
While “The Regime” takes place in a fabricated Middle European nation, several locations in the series may look familiar to Austrian viewers, or those who have previously visited the country’s capital city of Vienna. The city, which was used as the series’ primary filming location, is filled with Baroque architecture and an old-world European vibe that provides “The Regime” with a perfect setting, complete with grandiose palaces and gardens. Chief among these edifices is Liechtenstein Garden Palace, which is today part of the Liechtenstein Museum, on the Fürstengasse, in Vienna’s ninth district, and which is reportedly the location of much of the series photography, per the Germanlanguage online newspaper, Kurier.
While travellers may be taken with the backdrop, movie buffs may recognize the sardonic, over-the-top dark humour from Tracy and Reiss’ recent popular horror film, “The Menu.” A deeply critical commentary of the absurdity and pomp of the modern luxury dining experience, if “The Menu” is any indication of Tracy and Reiss’ writing style, “The Regime” is bound to be a scathing reflection of international politics.
Not only is Tracy “The Regime’s” creator/showrunner, but he also serves as one of several executive producers. Other executive producers include leading star Winslet, Frank Rich (“Veep”), Tracey Seward (“Eastern Promises,” 2007) and directors Frears and Hobbs. Meanwhile, producer credits go to Basia Lalik (“His Dark Materials”) and, on the Austrian side, Gerhard Rupp (“Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation,” 2015).
As for what all is to come in the serious, Vulture writer Justin Curto put it best when he called Winslet’s performance “deeply unserious” and touted “The Regime” as the perfect thing “to fill the ‘Succession’-size hole in your watching schedule.”
Curto goes on to list the most notable pieces of the HBO trailer, such as the Chancellor “enlist[ing] a nobody military guy (Schoenarts) to her inner circle as she navigates her political friends and foes,” the latter of which appears to include a female vice-president, played with dignity by Plimpton. The Vulture writer also notes that the teaser sees the Chancellor face “hard questions from children, [dance] in a Christmas number, and ... get gravely ill at one point.”
Tune in to the premiere of “The Regime” Sunday, March 3, on HBO and Crave. New episodes air weekly until its anticipated April 7 finale.