Television: Frankfurt’s “Tatort” team wants to come across as friendly

The new Frankfurt “Tatort” team should appear fundamentally likeable and thus stand out from other TV investigators. Many viewers are fed up with arguing “crime scene” detectives, says lead actor Edin Hasanovic (“Nothing New in the West”) on the sidelines of filming in Frankfurt. In the future he will play the Bosnian-born investigator Hamza Kulina. This inspector is a real Frankfurt boy and a rather introverted and quiet guy. “Unlike me, he can’t sing or dance,” says the 32-year-old.

Characters with empathy and compassion

Actress Melika Foroutan (“The Empress”) takes on the other main role and will play the Iranian-born inspector Maryam Azadi, an investigator for cold cases, i.e. unsolved criminal cases. “I would describe her as a profound judge of character,” says the 48-year-old about her role. A smart and quick-thinking woman who is very attentive to people. The two characters “that we are very empathetic and compassionate,” says Hasanovic.

They wanted to develop characters that people would “really want to see” on Sunday evenings, explains producer Jochen Laube. Where you say, “You would like to look at them”. He got a little fed up with the annoyed inspectors.

Actors were allowed to choose their own role names

By the way, the two of them were able to choose their role names themselves. “I am Iranian myself and Azadi means freedom,” says Foroutan. “We all know what kind of movement has taken place in Iran in the last two years: “Jin, Jiyan, Azadi” – “Woman, Life, Freedom”,” explains she. “It was such a small, subversive act for me to bring that into the character.” He loves his character’s name very much, says Hasanovic. Every time he hears this on set, he thinks he has to talk to his mother “why she didn’t call me Hamza.” The migration background of the two commissioners plays a role, “but not the main role,” emphasizes Foroutan.

The first episode is scheduled to air in autumn 2025

Filming in Frankfurt will continue until this Wednesday. The first episode, with the working title “Darkness,” is expected to air in fall 2025. It’s about a “cold case” that actually has its origins in the Frankfurt area. In the future, the “Tatort” from Hesse wants to generally concentrate on so-called cold cases, i.e. unsolved murder cases and homicides from the past, according to Hessischer Rundfunk (hr).

The previous Frankfurt “Tatort” team Janneke and Brix, played by Margarita Broich and Wolfram Koch, said goodbye to the audience with the last episode at the end of September – after 19 episodes in almost ten years.