

The three-part documentary “Beckenbauer – The Last Emperor” chronicles a life so exuberant it feels as though it were more than one. Torsten Körner, who co-wrote the highly acclaimed biography “Der freie Mann” with Franz Beckenbauer 20 years ago, has crafted a historically precise, at times nostalgic journey through life that connects Beckenbauer’s private life with his public one, the real with the imaginary. From Munich’s “Giesing” neighborhood—known as the “Glasscherbenviertel”—to the hearts of the German people and ever higher, all the way to New York; from the 1966 World Cup to becoming a global figure; and as the “Emperor” and a “beacon of light,” to the most famous German in the world: “Beckenbauer – The Last Emperor” illustrates, as rarely before, what constituted the modernity of both the soccer player and the “pop star” Beckenbauer.

Season 1
3 Episodes

Franz Beckenbauer
Self (archive footage)
Walter Beckenbauer

Matthias Brandt
Alfred Draxler

André Heller

Uli Hoeneß
Thomas Hüetlin

Günther Jauch

Jürgen Klinsmann
Willi Lemke