8 foreign Netflix series with outstanding Russian characters

There is a popular opinion that Russians in Hollywood movies are portrayed exclusively in the images of bad guys. However, this is not quite true. A vivid example of this is the streaming platform Netflix, which opposes imposed stereotypes and attracts as many representatives of different nations and cultures as possible to its projects.

We have collected eight Netflix films and series with the most outstanding Russian characters.

The first and hopefully not the last project of the star of the series "Orange is the hit of the season" Natasha Lyonne plays the cult plot of "Groundhog Day" in a new way.

The main character is a talented IT specialist with Russian roots, Nadia Vulvokov, who develops video games. On the day of her 36th birthday, she accidentally dies, but instead of heaven falls into a time loop and begins to live the same day.

As the plot develops, it becomes clear that Nadia, despite not the simplest character, has a wonderful mind and some kind of her own, special charisma. The role of the main character was performed by Lyonne herself, which only lazy did not compare with the Prima Donna.

Back in 2016, two unknown directors, Matt and Ross Duffer, decided to shoot a teenage fantasy series inspired by the 80s and the most famous horror films of those times. Then no one could even imagine that "Very strange Things" would become the main hit of the streaming platform.

And since the plot of the show unfolds exactly during the Cold War, it was impossible to do without Russian heroes. In the third season of the series, many bloodthirsty Soviet bandits are expected to appear, but Netflix did not limit itself to caricature characters only.

A real antipode to the stereotypical idea of Russians was a scientist named Alexey - a charming pacifist and just a kind-hearted person who quickly fell in love with the fans of the show.

The mystical series The OA, created by American actress Brit Marling and screenwriter Zal Batmanglij, has already been dubbed the "Twin Peaks" of the XXI century. However, the plot has nothing in common with the creation of David Lynch in the series.

Like Twin Peaks, The OA attracts with a special atmosphere created at the junction of esotericism and surrealism. The main character is a Russian girl Nina Azarova, who experienced clinical death as a child and lost her eyesight.

After the death of her father, a Russian oligarch, she ended up in a foster American family and received a new name. Already in adulthood, Nina encounters a mad scientist who is obsessed with studying the postmortem experience.

The cult comic strip by The Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Wade about a family of superheroes with extraordinary abilities also found shelter on the Netflix streaming platform. It is noteworthy that the nationality, as well as the past of the members of the Hargreaves family, still remains a mystery.

The origin of the characters can be judged based only on appearance or names. So, Diego Hargreaves clearly has Mexican genes, but many attribute Vanya Hargreaves to the Russians. The guess of the fans is confirmed in the second season, when the FBI agents take the White Violin for a Soviet spy who is preparing a terrorist attack.

However, as it turns out later, the suspicions of the Feds were in vain. It is possible that their arguments about Vanya's Russian genes also had no clear motivation.

A new comedy series from the creator of "The Office" and "Parks and Recreation" Greg Daniels takes place at the US military space base. The main character, General Michael Naird, whose role was played by Steve Carell, needs to carry out a mission to the moon and ensure the dominance of Americans in space.

Of course, with such a plot, you simply can't do without Russian heroes — there is too much field for jokes. In Daniels' show, the role of an observer from the Russian VKS named Yuri is performed by the famous Russian singer Alexey Vorobyov.

Yuri is expected to spy on American colleagues and generally behaves badly. He also starts a dizzying affair with the general's daughter, obviously for some selfish purposes. And yet it is difficult to call Yuri a full-fledged antagonist. He, like all the characters of "Space Troops", is more comical than malicious.

The political series, produced by David Fincher, also added variety to the images of Russian characters in American cinema. The key storyline of the third season of the series was the confrontation between Frank Underwood and the Russian leader Viktor Petrov, whose role was played by Lars Mikkelsen (brother of the famous Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen).

Petrov is indistinguishable from his only possible prototype — he is divorced, athletic, not particularly verbose. Despite the conflict of interests, Underwood and Petrov are similar in many ways — they are both terribly cynical and cruel, both are ready to make sacrifices in order to stay in power.

I would like to praise the creators of the series for a very bold attempt to beat the real relations between Moscow and Washington, which nevertheless caused a lot of criticism from the Russian side, who considered the image of the president unnecessarily cruel and implausible.

The drama series created by Samantha Stratton, as one might guess, tells about figure skaters. The main character is a girl named Kat, who is trying to build a sports career at the rink, despite a serious leg injury.

In this difficult task, Kat is helped by her figure skating partner Justin and Russian coach Dasha, the personification of wisdom and perseverance of Soviet figure skaters who have repeatedly won at the Olympics. Mindful of the successes, the creators of the show could not abandon such a colorful character.

As a result, Dasha turned out to be not just an excellent coach, but also a stunningly strong woman - an image that is especially relevant in the modern agenda.

The story of how two Icelanders tried to win Eurovision is rightfully considered the main crowd-pleaser of this year. The film, from which no one expected anything in general, suddenly shot and instantly exploded into memes.

And despite the fact that the main roles were played by Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams, the main audience favorite was the character of Dan Stevens - a completely heterosexual Russian singer Alexander Lemtov, who performed a song about a lion to match his majestic nature.

Naturally, the image of Lemtov is ironic in many senses (which is only worth one of his monologues about gays in Russia), but this irony is completely toothless, it is simply impossible to take offense at it.