Eastern Noir and the Borderscapes of Eastern Europe

Focusing on Eastern Europe through the notion of digital peripheries and the changing semantics of Eastern Noir, this chapter analyses the drift towards peripheries through the presence and activities of HBO Europe in Eastern Europe. It presents a range of threshold regions and spatio-generic references such as Balkan Noir before turning to three representative productions for the HBO platform. Firstly, we read the Polish series The Border (2014–19) as an indication of how the conceptualisation and borderscapes of Europe have been moved to the east. Secondly, we analyse the Czech series Wasteland (2018) as one series among others influenced by Nordic Noir and as a series debating the consequences of exploiting natural resources in the Bohemian peripheries. Thirdly, we include an analysis of the German-Romanian series Hackerville (2018) with its focus on the challenges of cybercrime towards the present European situation and as a representative example of creative collaboration between Western and Eastern European players. Lastly, we conclude the chapter by debating the problematic position of a commercial, global player in a post-socialist region exploited by HBO with no deep regional obligations.