Rosalie Thomass on Her New Role in the Franconia Tatort and the Importance of Civil Courage

Actress Rosalie Thomass steps into the role of Nürnberger Hauptkommissarin Emilia Emmy Rathgeber in the Franken-Tatort episode titled Gottesgarten, scheduled to broadcast on October 25, at 20:05 on SRF1, Bluewin reported. Thomass succeeds Dagmar Manzel in the long-running crime franchise, starring alongside Fabian Hinrichs as Hauptkommissar Felix Voss.

Casting risk and character design

Thomass explained to Bluewin that she approached the audition by going all in with a fully formed concept for her character, risking that the production team might dislike her creative choices.

Regarding her character development, Thomass stated that it was important to her that Emmy is competent and does not question that herself. She added that Emmy’s curiosity is important to her, as is the fact that she identifies with the people and does not elevate herself above the people in the milieu or wherever she is investigating, noting that she experienced this approach in her research into police work.

Broadcasting tradition and social friction

Addressing the cultural weight of the Sunday night broadcast, Thomass views the crime series not as an outdated relic in the age of streaming, but as a reliable weekly ritual that anchors her own hectic schedule. The premiere episode tackles severe intolerance through the murder of a queer young man from an Upper Franconian village working as a transvestite artist in Nuremberg, forcing the detectives to confront extreme prejudice from the victim’s father.

Thomass connects these themes of tolerance directly to her recent work, including the cinematic adaptation of Juli Zeh’s novel Über Menschen and her literary film Lügen über meine Mutter, which premiered at the beginning of October and features the Munich native in the lead role alongside her own scriptwriting work. She argues that society must actively practice civil courage and abandon tolerance toward open racism and right-wing extremism to protect human dignity.

Upcoming broadcast details

The twelfth Franken-Tatort marks a busy autumn for the 39-year-old actress, who also appears on the big screen as Barbara in Bibi Blocksberg – Die total verhexte Zeitreise since late September. Viewers can tune in to her investigative debut alongside Hinrichs on October 25, as Rathgeber brings her unique blend of Franconian charm and rigorous empathy to the regional police force.