41 minutes ago, Maxim said:

Thank you for this fantastic reply. I'm going to share this info with my husband... So far I'm liking the actress that plays Clarissa the best... and Jan and Julia are both quite charming. Jan looks like he came out of the Backstreet Boys. 😀

Yeah sure you are Welcome.

Jan and Julia had that IT Factor which made this soap popular. I try not to Spoiler but when These Two left there was a Big Void to fill. You could tell that it was hard replacing them.

My favorites of the early years: Jan, Julia, Clarissa, Arno, Anna AND especially Florian! He is still one of my all time favorites and some that join down the line in the first year. But no Spoilers there

Can’t wait to hear your thoughts later :)

Edited yesterday at 03:07 PM1 day by AMCOLTLLover

22 hours ago, AMCOLTLLover said:

Yeah sure you are Welcome.

Jan and Julia had that IT Factor which made this soap popular. I try not to Spoiler but when These Two left there was a Big Void to fill. You could tell that it was hard replacing them.

My favorites of the early years: Jan, Julia, Clarissa, Arno, Anna AND especially Florian! He is still one of my all time favorites and some that join down the line in the first year. But no Spoilers there

Can’t wait to hear your thoughts later :)

Thank you soooo much for the extra information and the encouragement! 🙂 We are already six episodes in, and with each one, it just keeps getting better and feels more natural. I anticipated they would require some time to hit their stride. It still feels a bit stiff, like a brand new something that still smells of the store where it was purchased. I've caught a few glimpses of the show in the later seasons, and they appear to have transformed into a full-fledged soap opera by then. Everything seems more refined and well-worn and soapy. I remember that while watching season 1 of "The Bold And The Beautiful," the overall stiffness and newness didn't settle for me until at least the first 60 episodes passed. Even the acting was bizarre in these first 3 months of episodes. So I'm watching this knowing very well that it will change with time. Some of the sets are strange too. They have scenes where everything is well lit and polished looking... and then we have some quite tortured looking rooms and shots. I love seeing them figure it out with each episode.

P.S. My husband already bragged to his German colleagues about watching the show and one of the women even asked where she could watch too. Spreading the word! 🤭

Edited 4 hours ago4 hr by Maxim

Like I mentioned before, I was always a strict RTL watcher, and neither of the ARD soaps ever did much for me 😄

VL always had the best-looking cast and the best opening credits, though. I always wanted some of the actors to jump to the RTL soaps, especially after VL’s cancellation, but I think Jo Weil (Olli on VL) was the only one who actually made the jump (he was briefly recurring on AWZ and then a regular on UU for a while). And of course, Miriam Lahnstein has been a regular on UU for two years now.

It’s probably because most actors get typecast, and if they’ve played a certain role for a couple of years, the audience will forever associate them with that character.

On 12/11/2025 at 4:51 PM, AMCOLTLLover said:

Alle zusammen was Limited with the filming on Location but gave it their all. I was upset when it was cancelled. But I get why they did it

I remember watching AZ when I was a teen, but I forgot most of its storylines. I always wanted to rewatch the whole show, but never got around to it. Same with Mallorca. (Kinda OT, but it’s strange that the AZ episodes on YouTube don’t have any closing credits.)

As 2025 is coming to a close, here’s the current contract cast for GZSZ, UU, and AWZ.

GZSZ

This year’s biggest WTF was the introduction of Fabian Hanis as Robin Zielke, a “mysterious new teenager.” In July, Hanis was announced as a new contract player, and his first episode eventually aired on September 3rd. A couple of episodes into his run, Robin was revealed to be the illegitimate son of Martin Ahrens (Nina’s violent ex-husband and Toni and Luis’s father). Robin fell in love with Luis’s ex-boyfriend Moritz, but he had anger issues like his father and was doing drugs. Interestingly, in the closing credits, Hanis was always listed as recurring. In November, Robin snapped and held Johanna and Matilda hostage. He escaped and went into hiding. His final episode aired on November 17th, and afterward RTL claimed that “Hanis’s guest role had come to an end.” (Clearly, something must have happened behind the scenes.)

Current Contract Cast (as of 12/2025):

With images: https://www.soapsworld.de/gute-zeiten-schlechte-zeiten-gzsz/besetzung/

• Wolfgang BAHRO – Dr. Jo Gerner (1993-present)

• Lennart BORCHERT – Moritz Bode (2020-present)

• Josefin BRESSEL – Alicia Bäumler (2023-present)

• Onno BUSS – Julian Gerner (2025-present)

• Felix van DEVENTER – Jonas Seefeld (2014-present)

• Nina ENSMANN – Jessica Reichelt (2022-present)

• Anna Katharina FECHER – Matilda Gerner (2024-present)

• Patrick FERNANDEZ – Carlos Lopes (2022-present)

• Ulrike FRANK – Katrin Flemming (2004-present; recurring previously)

• Patrick HEINRICH – Erik Fritsche (2019-present; recurring previously)

• Felix von JASCHEROFF – John Bachmann (2001-2014; 2015-present)

• Chryssanthi KAVAZI – Laura Bachmann (2017-present)

• Jan KITTMANN – Tobias Evers (2020-present)

• Olivia MAREI – Toni Fritsche (2018-present)

• Anne MENDEN – Emily Wiedmann (2004-present)

• Niklas OSTERLOH – Paul Wiedmann (2016-present)

• Lars PAPE – Michi Bode (2022-present; recurring previously)

• Charlott RESCHKE – Johanna Flemming (2025-present; recurring previously)

• Eva Mona RODEKIRCHEN – Maren Seefeld (2010-2022; 2023-present)

• Jörn SCHLÖNVOIGT – Dr. Philip Höfer (2004-present)

• Laura Dandelion SEIBERT – Zoe Lopes (2024-present; recurring previously)

• Iris Mareike STEEN – Lilly Seefeld (2010-present)

• Timur ÜLKER – Nihat Güney (2018-present)

• Maria WEDIG – Nina Reichelt (2017-present)

• Gisa ZACH – Yvonne Bode (2019-present)

UU

Current Contract Cast (as of 12/2025):

With images: https://www.soapsworld.de/unter-uns-uu/besetzung/

• Timothy BOLDT – Ringo Huber (2012-present)

• Guido BROSCHEIT – Juri Jansen (2025-present)

• Özge DELIOGLAN – Esma Gülek (2024-present)

• Metehan DEMIRÖZ – Baris Gülek (2024-present)

• Jens HAJEK – Benedikt Huber (2016-present)

• Benjamin HEINRICH – Benno "Bambi" Hirschberger (2013-present)

• Isabell HERTEL – Ute Huber (1995-present)

• Tabea HEYNIG – Britta Schönfeld-Küpper (2010-present)

• Lilay HUSER – Nuray Gülek (2024-present)

• Miriam LAHNSTEIN – Patrizia Neumann-Goldberg (2023-present)

• Bettine LANGEHEIN – Stella Neumann-Goldberg (2022-present)

• Nadine MENZ – Naomi Schönfeld (2025-present)

• Patrick MÜLLER – Tobias Lassner (2006-present)

• Valea SCALABRINO – Sina Hirschberger (2010-present)

• Lars STEINHÖFEL – Easy Winter (2005-present)

• Theresa TRASER – Ronja Pfeiffer (2023-present)

• Milos VUKOVIC – Paco Weigel (2000-present)

• Viola WEDEKIND – Dana Gülek (2025-present)

• Harun YILDIRIM – Ferhat Gülek #2 (2025-present)

AWZ

Current Contract Cast (as of 12/2025):

With images: https://www.soapsworld.de/alles-was-zaehlt-awz/besetzung/

• Suri ABBASSI – Leyla Öztürk (2021-present)

• Riccardo ANGELINI – Matteo Borazio (2024-present)

• Berrit ARNOLD – Daniela Bremer (2021-present; recurring previously)

• Julia AUGUSTIN – Vanessa Steinkamp (2006-2009; 2010-2012; 2013; 2014-2021; 2025-present)

• Stefan BOCKELMANN – Henning Ziegler (2021-present)

• Tatjana CLASING – Simone Steinkamp (2006-present)

• André DIETZ – Ingo Zadek (2006-2020; 2024-present)

• Igor DOLGATSCHEW – Deniz Öztürk (2007-present)

• Marc DUMITRU – Kilian Reichenbach (2022-present)

• Shaolyn FERNANDEZ – Charlie Beer (2024-present)

• Bianca HEIN – Gabriella Perez (2025-present)

• Amrei HAARDT – Nathalie von Altenburg (2019-2020; 2021-2023; 2024-present)

• Antonia KOLANO – Valea Borazio (2024-present)

• Féréba KONÉ – Imani Okana (2022-present)

• Silvan-Pierre LEIRICH – Richard Steinkamp (2006-present)

• Josephine MARTZ – Joana Perez (2025-present)

• Francisco MEDINA – Maximilian von Altenburg (2007-present – with like a hundred breaks in between)

• Ania NIEDIECK – Isabelle Reichenbach (2010-present)

• Jörg ROHDE – Ben Steinkamp (2009-present)

• Kaja SCHMIDT-TYCHSEN – Jenny Steinkamp #4 (2011-present)

• Florian THUNEMANN – Dragan Petrovic (2025-present)

Edited 3 hours ago3 hr by Huntress