As you prepare to dive into the excellent and heart-wrenching series “We Were the Lucky Ones,” which premieres with the first three episodes on Hulu on March 28, you should know that you are about to meet a lot of different characters. Like really, a lot!
“We Were the Lucky Ones” is an ensemble show in the best of ways. The cast is big and international (there’s the best of Jewish American, British and Israeli talent the world has to offer), and everyone in the series gets their moment to shine — and boy, do they shine. But that also makes the show a bit unwieldy at first, as you try to place who each character is and where they fit in the family dynamic.
So, here’s your cheat sheet to the Kurc family of 1938 Poland — along with some details about the actors who play them — to help you keep track of it all.
The Kurc parents:
Sol (Lior Ashkenazi). (Photo by: Vlad Cioplea/Hulu)
Sol Kurc played by Lior Ashkenazi
Sol is the family patriarch and owner of the Kurc boutique. He is a valued member of the local community, and having survived World War I in destitution in Radom, is reluctant to leave his home as the Nazi forces approach. When we first meet him, he’s jesting with his family, teasing his Parisian son Addy, and leading a very real, very loud and very vibrant Passover seder in his home. Later, we will see him use whatever means he can to help keep his family safe.
Ashkenazi is known for his many, many leading roles in Israeli TV and film, most recently as military leader David “Dado” Elazar in “Golda,” and it’s a treat to see him in this role.
Read our interview with Lior Ashkenazi.
Nechuma (Robin Weigert). (Photo by: Vlad Cioplea/Hulu)
Nechuma Kurc played by Robin Weigert
The beating heart of the family, Nechuma is the family matriarch and a wonderful and ingenious seamstress. When we meet her, she’s stressed about the family seder (relatable) and about her son’s visit from Paris. Her skills as a seamstress will come in handy for the family as they have to leave their home.
TV lovers may know Weigert from her roles in shows like “Deadwood” and “Big Little Lies,” and the Jewish actress is a warm and wonderful matriarch in this show.
Read our interview with Robin Weigert.
The Kurc siblings, from youngest to oldest:
Halina (Joey King) (Photo by: Vlad Cioplea/Hulu)
Halina Kurc played by Joey King
Halina is the youngest Kurc sibling. In the beginning of the show, she’s in Radom, Poland, working for her brother-in-law, Selim, as a lab assistant. Halina is a free spirit, stubborn and feels unmoored when we meet her. She doesn’t know what she wants to do with her life — if she wants to get married and fall in love, or what it is she is passionate about. And she’s really not sure what to do about her parents’ new lodger, Adam, an architect who is charmed by her. War is about to change everything for Halina and there will be many evocative close-ups of her tortured and incredibly expressive face.
King, known for her roles in “The Act” and “The Kissing Booth,” really gives the performance of a lifetime with this role.
Jakob (Amit Rahav)(Courtesy of Hulu)
Jakob Kurc played by Amit Rahav
When we meet Jakob, he is studying law, which he isn’t that into because he doesn’t like “playing games.” That’s Jakob in a bottle: steadfast, honest, but also incredibly passionate — about photography, and Bella, his girlfriend. Both his camera, and his love for Bella, will help him survive.
Rahav is phenomenal in “Unorthodox” and “Transatlantic,” and he is just as evocative and incredible in this show.
Read our interview with Amit Rahav.
Addy (Logan Lerman). (Courtesy of Hulu)
Addy Kurc played by Logan Lerman
The middle Kurc, and the artiste of the family, lives in Paris to pursue his dream of being a composer and performing at local jazz clubs. When we meet him, he’s a minor celebrity whose music is heard on the radio. He and Halina share a birthday and a special bond. The war tears him and his family apart, but he keeps thinking, dreaming and writing to them as he journeys across continents in order to ensure his survival and help rescue his family.
Lerman was most recently in “Hunters” where he played a Nazi hunter. Addy is based on Hunter’s own grandfather, and Logan will absolutely make you fall in love with the character’s charms in this role.
Mila (Hadas Yaron). (Photo by: Vlad Cioplea/Hulu)
Mila Kurc played by Hadas Yaron
When we meet Mila in Radom, she is married to Selim and pregnant with Felicia, their first child. Mila is very much the opposite of Halina, with two feet firmly grounded, someone who is happy with her lot of being a mother and wife, though she is also struggling with the pains of pregnancy, and then, early motherhood.
Hadas Yaron, who we know as Libby from “Shtisel,” is a tortured wonder in this role, and the journey she goes through as a mother is painful and relatable.
Read our interview with Hadas Yaron.
Genek (Henry Lloyd-Hughes). (Photo by: Vlad Cioplea/Hulu)
Genek Kurc played by Henry Lloyd-Hughes
Genek is the oldest sibling and a lawyer by trade. Unlike Jakob, his personality is totally suited for the law; he is all about remembering statutes and figuring out a way to game his way out of things. When we meet him in 1938, he is quite the playboy. But in 1939, he is married and completely devoted to Herta, and they both live in Radom with the start of the war.
Fans of “Harry Potter” may remember Llyod-Hughes as Roger Davies in “The Goblet of Fire,” while fans of British TV may know him from shows like “Killing Eve” and “The Irregulars.” He is absolutely perfect, both seductive and charismatic, stubborn and incredibly vulnerable, as Genek.
The partners and love interests of the Kurc siblings, from youngest to oldest:
Adam (Sam Woolf). (Photo by: Vlad Cioplea/Hulu)
Adam Eichenwald played by Sam Woolf
Halina is not sure whether or not she wants to be with Adam, an architect in his 30s who is quiet and passionate, but he certainly seems sure about her. A lodger in her parents’ building, he starts a romance with Halina and works at a local architecture firm before the war breaks. We will see him join the Jewish resistance and become quite a leader as his relationship with Halina morphs throughout the show.
The Jewish British actor who you may have seen in “The Witcher” and “The Crown” is truly the secret dreamboat of the series.
Read Hey Alma’s interview with Sam Woolf.
Bella (Eva Feiler). (Photo by: Vlad Cioplea/Hulu)
Bella Tatar played by Eva Feiler
Jakob and Bella have been in love forever — childhood sweethearts — and yet Jacob hasn’t proposed to Bella yet when we first meet her in the show, despite all the love and intimacy they share. Bella is deeply connected to her family.
This is Feiler’s first major TV role, and you are about to be totally charmed by her Bella!
Elisabeth (Eliska) played by Lihi Kornowski
We meet Eliska in episode three of the show, and I am loathe to spoil much about where that happens, but this classy Jewish lady from Prague is won over by Addy’s talent and charisma. Less charmed by Addy? Eliska’s mother, who goes by Madame Lowbeer, and who is played by a very familiar face — Marin Hinkle from “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.”
Kornowski is a super-talented Israeli actress who you can see in the dark thriller “Losing Alice” on Apple TV+.
Selim (Michael Aloni). (Photo by: Vlad Cioplea/Hulu)
Selim played by Michael Aloni
Selim is a doctor, a devoted husband and father (or father-to-be in the start of the series). We see him comfort his pregnant wife Mila and eventually sing a lullaby in Polish to his daughter Felicia. Selim gets drafted into the reserves of the Polish army and disappears in the middle of the first episode of the show. When will we see him again? That is truly a mystery.
One thing is for sure: We always want to see more of Michael Aloni, one of our favorite young Israeli actors from “Shtisel” and “The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem.”
Herta (Moran Rosenblatt) and Genek (Henry Lloyd-Hughes). (Photo by: Vlad Cioplea/Hulu)
Herta Seifert played by Moran Rosenblatt
It takes a true badass to tame a playboy like Genek, and Herta is definitely one. She’s a lover of Rilke, someone who grew up speaking German, an independent woman who may not be the most popular with her in-laws when we first meet her in episode one, but will certainly be one of the most memorable characters in your mind by the time the third episode of the show ends.
Rosenblatt, who has been in shows like “Fauda” and “Hit & Run,” gives a truly excellent performance.
Read our interview with Moran Rosenblatt.
