Overview
- ZDF confirmed on Thursday that Duda’s character, Polizeidirektor Gert Achtziger, will be written into retirement and that the actor’s time on the show ends with the current season.
- Producer Marlies Moosauer said the exit will be marked by a ‘loving and dignified’ farewell episode that features Duda’s real‑life wife in the role of Frau Achtziger and is due to air in spring 2027.
- Duda has said the decision was not his and that he would have preferred to continue the role, though he accepts the production’s explanation that the character reaches civil‑servant pension age.
- The actor described his final day of filming as emotional and said he struggled to hold back tears, while also telling reporters he plans to keep working on screen and on stage.
- Duda’s departure follows other long‑running cast exits such as Marisa Burger’s and signals a wider generational renewal in the long‑running ZDF series.