“Our office is the island”: Julian Looman on filming, family, and Mallorca life

An actor whose workplace is by the sea

One can tell immediately: Julian Looman is not just a tourist. He lives the filming on the island. I met him on a cool October afternoon, beside a small bar in Palma, where the wind from the harbor brushed through the palms. He smiled, drank an espresso and said: “Our office is the island” – and you believe him right away.

Filming that lasts

His role as Commissioner Max Winter has taken him to Mallorca repeatedly since 2019. Six to seven months in one stretch is not uncommon, he says. The workdays are long, the schedules tight – and the weekends often the only time to unwind. Still, his voice carries genuine enthusiasm for the locations where filming happens: rugged northern coastlines, quiet nature reserves with wild horses, but also designer-chic villas on the southern coast. At one point he describes a location where an elevator runs through rock – almost like in an old espionage film.

Between glamour and reality

“We also show on the screen the less beautiful sides,” Looman says openly. Especially places like Magaluf would not be left out of the script: party scene, problems, criminal structures – all of that finds its way into the stories, albeit exaggerated, so that it works. He emphasizes that the series is fictional, but with one foot in reality. That creates tension, sometimes also debates, he says, shrugging.

Private life between Vienna and Mallorca

Not much glamour, but routine: During filming he prefers living in a small apartment, cooking himself, and trying to keep the balance with his family. His girlfriend is also in the industry, and the two often commute – from Northern Germany through the Netherlands to Mallorca. He has two children, values sports and small projects alongside the big shoots. He uses the weekends to recharge; not necessarily on the beach with a cocktail, but usually quietly and simply at home.

Why this is interesting: For the island, an international production means more than spotlights and parties, but also jobs, logistical challenges and the recurring question of how locally and realistically such series should show the island. Looman comes across, in all of this, as someone who respects the island not only as a backdrop but as a workplace and living space.

At the end of our conversation, he looks out to the sea, smiles and says: “It is exhausting, but it is also beautiful. You experience so much – and the office is really just a set on the beach sometimes.” Then he leaves, a few notes in hand, apparently on his way to the next shoot.